I don't think that every episode of a comedy has to strive for absolute hilarity. Now stay with me here. There exists a state into which some comedies enter, where, with the right mix of characterization and a generally genial attitude, it can throw some mostly softball jokes at us, call it a day, and everybody still walks away happy.
That was vaguely my experience in watching “A Thing About You.” I'm not going to say it wasn't comedic, because it was; however, I didn't really laugh so much as crack a bunch of smiles and snort through my nose in appreciation. Yet I still enjoyed the hell out of this episode.
The key, as I said before, is the characters. Cougar Town is able, perhaps more than any other comedy on air right now, to break up its characters into whatever combination it wants, and still come up with something golden. (I believe it was the chemistry the show established in its ensemble scene that allows for this.) And thus we had Jules and Grayson, Jules and Laurie, Travis and the guys, Ellie and the girls, and Ellie and the Bartender have their own scenes together, and and yet none of them is out of place. (Well, there was that scene with Barb. I hate Barb scenes, as they exist back with the hacky premise version of CT, but I guess I've just learned to ignore there presence).
And then there's that genial nature. CT has always been a show with its emotional side worn on it sleeves, and tonight it went all out, with each of it's stories ending with the sweet-yet-deserved capper that this show does so well. Jules and Laurie got a better handle on their relationship, Ellie learned what lines she can't cross when it comes to judging people, and Bobby and Travis once again reaffirmed their father-son relationship, with the help of Grayson. (I promise all of this comes across better, and with more subtly on screen than it does written out.) That it did all of this without stretching its laid-back nature too far is a testament to CT's unique brand of storytelling.
The show's nature can make it hard to review (and my posts on this show will dip in and out, depending on if I can come up with something to say beyond “I liked it” or “it was funny”), but always easy to watch. Watching this show is like [insert metaphor of comfort here] and I always have a good time just hanging out with the Cul-de-Sac Crew.
Feel free to post dissenting opinions below.
Additional Thoughts:
-“The Estevez Festevez.”
-Okay, how is a date spent watching the first season of Community not considered a good time?
-This week in title cards: “Starting to own it”
-Since this week's episode was the one that had been preempted by the Tuscon memorial last week, Cougar Town is currently airing one episode behind The Middle and Modern Family, which aired their episode around the memorial. This means that there will probably be some sort of off-week in which the other shows are repeats but there' a new CT episode. Or maybe they'll give it a whole hour one week. I have no idea. But since CT will go on hiatus in a couple weeks (to make room for Matthew Perry's Mr. Sunshine) we probably won't have to worry about it until it's return on April 13. It'll get figured out.
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