Cougar Town ‘You Can Still Change Your Mind’: Swinging At Softballs

Cougar Town returned from a short hiatus with a bumpy episode full of hit-or-miss jokes and one plot line that felt like a retread. It’s certainly a misstep the show can ill afford in a short season, doubly when considering the tenuous ground the show currently stands in. But for a mediocre episode, ‘You Can Still Change Your Mind’ brings in a few interesting character moments in the closing minutes.

The most disappointing storyline last night easily goes to Ellie and Laurie, the latter of which spent the first half of the episode banging fingers on a Simon that looked brand new, even though it was from the 90s (and really from the 80s). First of all, my Simon didn’t look so sleek and futuristic in the center, although it did have the clunky clicking noise when pressing a button, and secondly, haven’t we moved past having conversations about Laurie’s stupidity? We’ve seen plenty of storylines with Ellie being mean and condescending to Laurie, and even some of the jokes felt rehashed. Their separation from the rest of the cast for the majority of the episode was disappointing: if you’re going to pair off Ellie and Laurie, let them bicker in the affectionate ways they’ve been doing for the last season and a half or so, it works so much better on a comedy that aspires to have a heart.

Our A-plot this week belongs to Jules in wedding mode – which is quickly starting to lean on the “crazy white girl planning a wedding and being stressed” tropes we already know, and have seen Courtney Cox do on that “other” comedy show NBC had back in the day. She’s still dealing with Grayson’s new daughter, Tampa Jill (yes, we’re all sticking with Tampa), which is given a lazy physical parallel with the placement of baby locks on everything (even the toilet and garbage can). This is totally understandable, but the whole other plot line with Travis and being worried that he’ll be a broke photographer just didn’t feel right, and it was clear that in the end, Travis was going to be the photographer for her wedding no matter what. Does Jules really believe Travis is going to be poor and taking pictures forever? Highly doubt it.

Thankfully, not all the characters on the show regressed: Bobby is continuing his long, hard path of change and redemption (because his character is a golfer FOR A REASON, people, and it’s not just a Tiger Woods joke), and it showed in a big way today. He catches Angie kissing another man, and when he finds out she wasn’t planning on getting serious with anyone, he makes the tough decision of letting her go – a moral stand he normally wouldn’t take. His story continues to be my favorite thing about Cougar Town, and watching the care and patience the show is taking with Bobby’s character is great. Sure, he’s goofy, can’t speak right, and gets to be the butt of all the dumb jokes that Laurie doesn’t get, but he is a man really trying to change himself, and seeing his tiny baby steps – and his struggles – is easily my favorite part of the show.

(moment of silence for the abrupt departure of Sarah Chalke)

However, that moment is a smudged a bit by the crappy dialogue between Ellie and Laurie, where Ellie ties all the plot threads together for the audience (all 4 million of us remaining, holla!). It’s tacky, and like much of the character’s behavior in the episode, was off-putting, and all over the map. I did break out the bashing stick on this episode a bit, but it goes to show how far its come from the first half of season 1 that I expect so much from it. But hey, we can’t make them all perfect, right?

Grade: C

Other thoughts:

– the whale CGI scene was a weak, weak use of the green screen wall. C’MON DUDE!

– also disappointing: the history of the Ellie’s nickname for Laurie ‘Jellybean’. That could’ve been so much better.

– there are many episodes that start out with everyone talking about one of Jules’ extreme beliefs or behaviors, and spends the rest of the episode trying to reel her back into reality with their own craziness. In episodes like ‘Lost Children’, it leads to hilariousness and great moments of character. Tonight, it just felt like drinking a really flat version of your favorite soda.

– “What is this, a smoke detector from a disco?”

– the Bo Knows t-shirt was hilarious.

– it almost felt like a meta moment when Travis said he thought his helmet would be a bigger thing. But didn’t they film this episode awhile ago? A weird moment of possibly unintentional self awareness.

What did you think of ‘You Can Change Your Mind’? Feel free to cry about Sarah Chalke leaving (although since she’s Travis’s teacher, maybe she sticks around? I hate to give anyone false hope), and leave your thoughts on the episode!