Cougar Town: A One Story Town

What Happened, Yo!:

-Jules is surprised one morning by Ted and his band, who Travis informs her are going to be staying with her for the next week while on their way to audition for Disney World. Jules reluctantly agrees.

-Plenty of Quebecers are in Gulfhaven for the annual Crabfest. Bobby reveals his first meeting with Angie went terribly, as he wasn't good at talking to her, and she got chased off by bees (which she is allergic too.). Jules reveals that Bobby is always a nervous wreck around women he really likes until the first kiss, so she plans a perfect date (Champagne on the golf cart, Penny Can with his best friend and adoring son, a romantic movie, drinks with friends, and a romantic sunset on the beach) where Bobby won't have to do much talking, but will still get the kiss at the end, which will leave him good to go. Meanwhile Jules will run the whole thing from her kitchen with the non-help of Ellie. But things quickly start going wrong with problems popping up at every turn, and despite Jules best attempts to constantly salvage the situation, Angie winds up having burned legs (Bobby accidentally spilled soup on her at the bar because he ordered a bread bowl and tried eating the bread first), and emotional scars (She and Bobby see dead Manatees on the beach, and nothing makes Angie sadder than dead animals. It doesn't help matters that she also loves Manatees). Bobby lets her leave, but Jules is still desperate to save the date, so after convincing Ellie to help by picking up Angie, Jules fetches Ted and his band, and gets both Bobby and Angie to the Crab Festival, where Ted's Band sings the song Kiss the Girl, and Bobby finally gets that first kiss, restoring his confidence.

-In the last scene, Ted is freaked out by how much everyone in town (Ellie, Angie, and Tom in particular) reminds him of people from his old job and really freaks out when Chick wanders in, causing him to hit the screen door, bewildering a pizza guy (Played by Zach Baff) and gaining sympathy (and a high-five) from a pool boy, who may or may not actually be The Todd. Man, Scrubs was great.


I Liked This: And Bam! Two episodes after I was really impressed by Lover's Touch, I get blown away by A One Story Town, a tour de force of everything Cougar Town's good at and a near masterpiece.  With only one real plot for the episode to follow, the writers manage to pull everyone into Jules attempts to get Angie to kiss Bobby on the first date (Which will calm his nerves and allow him to act like himself around her.) with great results. There's tons of set-up, pay-offs and callbacks as almost every joke or piece of information from the first part of the episode (Quebeccers in town for Crabfest, Andy's desire to put a racing stripe on Travis' helmet, Laurie loving hot wings, Angie's love of manatees and sadness at dead animals, etc.) comes into play in the second part at just the wrong time to derail Bobby's date with Angie. And when all seems lost, a few more callbacks (Tom's crowd exploding abilities, Tom Cruise running, The Worthless Peons practicing Disney Songs), come into play to save it. It's masterful and really funny. Even the Scrubs reunion that was promised in the description for the episode doesn't derail the episode, as Ted is brought in smoothly, used sparingly throughout the episode (Though I think he got more screentime then Andy and Travis this week) and then let loose in the last scene (which admittedly was only funny if you had a love and/or working knowledge of Scrubs, but since I had both those things, I didn't care if anyone else got it.). And the emotional core of the episode was really effective, as I bought into Jules attempts to help her ex-husband get a shot at happiness and bought into the central dilemma of Bobby's nervousness. And Sarah Chalke continues to be a good addition to the cast, even if she was mainly a reactionary presense this week. So, stellar job Cougar Town. Keep up the great work!

But...: No real problems this week.

The Bottom Line: A One Story Town was a superb episode of Cougar Town, bringing everyone together in a fantastic way and delivering tons of laughs and an amazing Scrubs reunion of sorts.

Grade: 94% (Almost Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-Ted: "Aww, you said that'd be funny." Ellie: "It is. Look how mad she is."

-Things that make Jules wanna die in ascending order: Books, Snakes, PBS, A capella. Later, Laurie's birth story is added to the list above A capella.

-Jules can't explain why Quebecers are attracted to Gulfhaven's crab festival.: "It's one of those unexplainable things like, you know, magnets, volcanoes." Travis: "Those are actually explainable."

-It was a good episode for this title card gag: Welcome to Cougar Town. No, it's not just Scrubs in Florida with lots of wine.

-Andy: "New rule [for Penny Can]! Miss 10 in a row, and anyone wearing a helmet gets a racing stripe." Travis: "How does it apply to anyone  but me?" Andy: "It don't."

-Bobby: "So.... what's your sign?" Angie: "Um, Capricorn. What's yours?" Bobby: "Don't got one. Where are ya from?" Angie: "France. You?" Bobby: "France." Angie: "Really?" Bobby: "No."

-Jules: "Okay, we have to help Bobby get this girl." Grayson: "He seems to be fine getting girls on his own." Laurie: "Yeah, he was awesome at it when you guys were married."

-Jules: "You know what happened after that kiss?" Laurie: "He put a baby in you?" Jules: "No, that was a couple days later."

-Laurie: "I love spicy food so hard. I think it's because my mom gave birth to me after a night of pounding Bloody Marys at a White Snake after party. I was a jacuzzi baby. Born.. and conceived in one."

-Laurie: "Wait, so part of your fantasy involves bragging to me that it would work?" Jules: "Yeah." Laurie: "But I never said it wouldn't work." Jules: "Who cares?"

-Jules: "Okay, are you wearing your sports coat?" Bobby: "I am." Jules: "Great. Are you also wearing pants?" (Cut to reveal Bobby in a sports coat and shorts.) Bobby: "Turning around."

-Bobby tries complimenting Angie's dress: "Wow, my Grandmother got buried in a dress just like that." Angie: "I can- I can go change." Bobby: "No, she's not dead. I don't even know why I said that."

-Angie: "Nothing makes me sadder than dead animals." Bobby: "For me, it's my dead Grandma. She did die, I just didn't wanna bring you down earlier.

-Angie: "Bobby, I don't understand why you took your shirt off." Bobby: "Well, you can't break up a fight with your shirt on. I mean, haven't you ever seen Roadhouse? I don't wanna call you a dummy or anything, but dammn."

-Jules: "You know, wearing this headset makes me look like Sigourney Weaver in the movie with the alien." Ellie: "It was called Alien." Jules: "Nope, I'm thinking of a different movie." Ellie: "You're not..."

-Jules: "Hi, you must be Angie. I'm Bobby's ex-wife Jules and this is Bobby's friend Grayson, who's also me fiance." Grayson: "Sometimes it sounds weird when you say facts out loud."

-Tom: "Nice gams. Do you play soccer?" Jules: "Um, Tom? Less creepy, more doctory." Tom: "Oh, right."

-Angie has a Chinese tattoo on her thigh. It means Vegas. She's not proud of it.

-Laurie: "Stupid Canadian kids and your holes!"

-Jules: "Fine, if this is going to stop you from being an insecure little baby, then: (sarcastically) you're the kiss master. Happy?" Grayson: ...Yes! Kiss master in the hiz-house. (To Ellie) Burn!"

-Ellie: "To me, people are just bags of skin that slow down my day."

-Angie: "Who are you?" Ellie: "I'm Sarge!"

-Bobby: "You'll never make it." Jules: "Yes I will." Bobby: "How?" Jules: "Tom Cruise run". Great callback gag in an episode full of them.

-The Blanks got all kinds of opportunities to show off their chops in this episode with Disney tunes, which was nice.

-Ted: "This is weird, man. Everyone here looks like someone from my old job. (Looks at Angie) Old you was nice to me. (Looks at Ellie) Old you hated me." Elle: "I kind of feel the same way now." Ted: "That's exactly what old you would say! (Angie blows her bangs out of her eyes. Ted looks at her again.) That's exactly what old you would do!" Chick (Who has just wandered into the room): "Anybody see Junebug?" Ted: "Oh dear God in heaven!!" (He runs into the glass back door. A pizza boy played by Zach Braff enters the room and looks at him.) Z.B: "Hey man, did you order a pizza? (Ted on the floor backs up further against the wall) Why are you so sweaty?" (A pool boy who's possibly The Todd enters and looks at Ted) Pool Boy: "Are you all right five? (They high-five, while Ted still looks shocked) From the big dog." Oh, Scrubs goodness.