When Cougar Town first came out, I'll admit it: I was one of those people who wouldn't watch it because of it's title. Even after learning that the show had changed and strayed away from it's initial premise, and even as I saw it get more and more critically acclaimed, and even as one of my favorite shows Community began promoting the show, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it out of some sort of apathy. But when Cougar Town was held back from the ABC midseason schedule days after Community was taken off NBC's schedule, I realized that maybe I had made a mistake. Cougar Town was in the same boat as Community, so I should at least give it a chance. And I'm glad I did, because I quickly grew attached to Cougar Town and found myself anxiously awaiting the show's return. So now it's back and as I prepare to kick off my opinion of the season 3 premiere, I want to promise right now that I will never judge a show I hear good things about based on it's title alone again. So with that out of the way, let's get started:
What Happened, Yo!:
-After Jules yells at some skateboarders, Grayson tells her he knew she would do that because she's predictable. She gets mad at this and tries to prove she's unpredictable to no success. After the skateboarders apparently shark her car, she decides to get back at them by TPing what she understands to be their house late at night with Tom. Laurie also comes along, but when they hear police sirens, Laurie (who has an ankle monitor and two strikes) bolts and Tom tries to make a distraction, only to start yelling about being Tasered. Jules comes out in the open and starts to explain to the police officer what's been happening when it turns out the officer is Grayson, there are no police, and Tom and Laurie are both present and fine. Grayson reveals he sharked her car, because he knew what she would do and that the house she TPed is actually one of her listings. The rest of the gang shows up and Grayson proposes (after using Tom to figure out how Jules would want to be proposed to because Jules just wrote the whole thing off as Tom being creepy.). Jules accepts.
-Meanwhile Travis has moved into off-campus housing with 8 other guys in a 2-bedroom apartment. It also has a green screen, which is awesome. Bobby swings by and tries to encourage Travis to take Dog Travis in as a sort of house pet, while getting Dog Travis accustomed to the house. Travis is reluctant to take the dog in. Andy asks Bobby why he doesn't just ask Travis to take in Dog Travis and Bobby says he's worried Travis will say no because he might feel he doesn't owe Bobby anything because he was a bad dad for so long. Eventually he does ask Travis after a heart-to-heart (and after setting the green screen so it looks like this is happening outside in the rain) and Travis says yes.
-Also meanwhile, Stan has become a bit of a "Devil Child", and Ellie is worried he will grow up a terror. She grows more concerned when Stan takes a shine to Laurie and they bond. Laurie tells Ellie that with two amazing parents (Something she didn't have) Stan will probably be fine, though he still may remain a complete terror.
I Like This: Cougar Town at it's best is a nice mix of wonderfully funny and wonderfully sweet and that was definitely shown off here. Grayson's proposal to Jules was a very nice moment and I'm glad to see that the show isn't interested in keeping these two apart. Also, as a fan of recurring player Tom, I was glad to see him be a pretty active part of this episode. Sleeping nude sounds like something he'd do. And his attempt at putting his arm around Laurie was a great moment of comedy after the slight sadness of watching Bobby's reaction to the proposal. I also liked Travis and Bobby's storyline a lot. The green screen is awesome and provided plenty of laughs and I hope it becomes a recurring comedic element in the fashion of Big Carl or Penny Can. Travis' new living situation also should make for some good stories down the road. And Laurie bonding with Stan was pretty funny too, and the scene of her reassuring Ellie (while still pointing out that Stan could turn out wrong) was a nice scene, which shows us how far these two characters have come since their initial animosity (which is still there, sort of).
But...: No notable or easy to identify flaws this week.
The Bottom Line: Ain't Love Strange is a great start to Cougar Town's third season and I'm excited to actually watch the show as it airs this time around.
Grade: 86% (Great)
Memorable Moments
-I quite enjoy the title card gags. "Yeah, it's still called Cougar Town. We're not happy about it either."
-I really hope the wine necklaces come back. It's a great visual gag.
-Grayson's slightly extended version of Jules morning routine song was funny and helped illustrate one of the episode's points.
-Jules: "When it comes to love I'm a street rapping poet, yo".
-Laurie: "Of course, some devil-babies are just devil-babies.”
-Jules: “Don’t leave me! Prison’s great. You can get those neat teardrop tattoos.”
-Grayson: "I thought you wanted to do all the talking". Jules: "I'm speechless". Grayson: Really? You?"
-Housemate of Travis: "Dude, how often is your mom gonna come over?" Travis: "Probably more often than I'd like"
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