Quick Take: Cougar Town, "Breakdown"
"You suck at musical beers." – Jules
Review: Cougar Town, "Breakdown"
(S0123) The gang gets totally amped when they discover a medical study that reveals that moderate drinking can coincide with women not gaining weight. "Drinking keeps women totally skinny!" Jules cries. "This is bigger than curing cancer," Ellie (Christa Miller) deadpans. And then all in unison, "If it's on the Internet, IT MUST BE TRUE!"
Watching this little mini-scene, it occurred to me that the acting on this show is really strong – the cast really sells the lines and characters they're portraying, and there's no way that it would work if the actors and chemistry weren't spot on.
And the chemistry here is spot on. It was a brilliant tactical move to shift the focus from being all about Jules (Courtney Cox, who is terrific by the way), to being about this band of fourty something wackos in a suburban Florida town. While the name Cougar Town doesn't bother me in the slightest, I'm glad that the creators are toying with changing it so as to not scare off those who might easily (and wrongly) dismiss this show as a middle aged cats on the prowl for younger gents kind of show.
Perhaps even more so than this season's other breakout freshman comedies (Modern Family, Community), Cougar Town has the ability to blend a nice dash of drama and character moments in on a regular basis. It was enjoyable to watch the hijinks and running competitiveness between Ellie and Laurie transition into a real world conversation about Laurie feeling hurt that Jules didn't care as much about her going to Travis' graduation as compared to Ellie. "It's not nice to test friends when they don't know they're being tested," Ellie advises, not unkindly.
Travis' "every man" graduation speech and the continued storyline of Jules dealing with her son growing up wasn't the strongest part of the episode, but all around I tend to enjoy a half an hour with Cougar Town as much or more than any time I spend watching television.
More thoughts on "Breakdown":
Video: Cougar Town, "Breakdown"
Check out the breaking down in full while available, from Hulu:
Recap: Cougar Town, "Breakdown"
Jules encourages Travis to submit a graduation speech.
From Around the Web: Cougar Town, "Breakdown"
