What's A Showman Without A Show? Just A Man...

Here’s the rundown from Tuesday and Wednesday. Now I prepare for the storm that is Thursday night. Enjoy! 

Spoilers.

Cougar Town – “Cry to Me” (B)

I really like Kirsten. Every time she’s on the show she’s good for a few laughs. I think it’s the way she brings out all of Travis’s insecurities that makes her so funny. That or the fact that as I’ve mentioned she’s an outsider looking in on this bizarre group. Either way, her appearance in this episode was the highlight for me. When she asked Trav for a sexy picture I knew it was going to be good, but I never anticipated that the picture itself would be so funny. I also loved the little exchange between her and Grayson at the start of the episode.

GRAYSON: (pulling out flowers) Happy day before Valentine’s Day Kirsten. You know just in case Travis forgot.
KIRSTEN: He did.
TRAVIS: Forget what! It’s not a thing.

Poor Trav.

On the Jules/Grayson front this week Jules decides that Grayson doesn’t open up to her enough and goes on a quest to see him cry. The story itself wasn’t the funniest, but I did enjoy the banter between the two of them. I particularly liked Grayson’s “why are you always trying to change me” line. That was a long time coming considering Jules is Jules. As a fellow emotional cripple it was nice to see Grayson finally get respected for who he is, although he does make a compromise by letting her watch him watch Field of Dreams.

There were also a few random moments that I can’t leave without talking about. I love that Bobby and Andy penny canned a proposal. I love even more that the guy proposing laughed out loud at the penny being from 1969.

And who could forget the phenomenal closing sequence where Bobby and Laurie fake a break up to get a free meal. Busy Philipps is sooo good at playing that character. Her hysterical fake freak out was absolutely legendary. Bravo madam, bravo.

I’ll leave you with my favourite Andy quote of the week (also the name of this post):

ANDY: What’s a showman without a show? Just a man...

Off the Map – “On the Mean Streets of San Miguel” (B+)

Wow. Keeping your wife alive in a coma so you can continue to fund your South American jungle clinic – I did not see that coming. I like that they’re portraying Keeton as a tortured hero. I was worried when the show started that his character may show a lack of depth, so it’s nice to see them give him a complicated back story. It also throws a nice little bump into the budding Lily/Keeton relationship (I mean on top of the fact he and Ryan are still making out).

Speaking of Lily and Keeton, this week instead of trouncing out into the jungle again they took their weekly trip together to the city of San Miguel. I really enjoyed watching Lily’s trip through customs, as she stumbled from department to department trying to get medicine for her patient. Her final freak out at the end of the ordeal was well done, and certainly put a smile on my face.

I was also a fan of Mina’s plotline this week. As patient stories go this was actually a really cool one. As it turns out, the gentle old man loved by all that Mina started treating, was actually a Nazi escaping prosecution. Incredibly enough, this does still happen, so kudos to the show for picking up on it. There was definitely an interesting debate between Ryan and Mina over what to do with the old guy, and watching Mina try to keep him alive made for some good drama. It’s nice to see Mina finally shining through a bit more – she kind of got lost in the clutter of the opening few episodes and think she’s turning into a great character.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the Zee and Cole relationship end though (the speed bump in this episode clearly won’t last). Both of these characters are fine on their own – Zee had a great speech to Tommy in the middle of the episode, and I know I’ve expressed my dislike for Cole, but most of that stems from his scenes with Zee. It’s just when they’re together they’re really annoying. The first scene of this episode was a prime example.  “Not if you kiss it better”— seriously?

V – “Unholy Alliance” (B-)

V returned again this week with another uneven offering. This episode had Erica and the gang (this should be their permanent nickname) searching for the elusive Eli Cohn – a Fifth Column leader with more questionable methods than our local chapter.

I have to say, I was a little surprised at how reluctantly Erica entered into the deal with Cohn. I don’t condone what Cohn did – it was a truly jack ass move. But still, you’re fighting a war against a technologically superior enemy, and right now you have like six people. You don’t always have the luxury of choosing who you work with. Cohn’s methods may be highly questionable, but they could desperately use his resources.

It’s like those early season three (I think) episodes of Battlestar, when the humans were under Cylon occupation. The human resistance resorted to a lot of questionable tactics to fight the Cylons – including killing fellow humans. You may not have agreed with their tactics, but putting your heroes on shaky moral ground provokes thought, and makes for some truly compelling television.

I was a little disappointed with Hobbes this week as well. Last season he was filling the role that Cohn is filling now – a skilled soldier with questionable methods.   If he didn’t like a decision the group was making, he would take matters into his own hands. Now he just defers to whatever Erica and Ryan decide. Come on Hobbes – when did you get so soft?

As I said though, they do end up working with Cohn, who agrees to set up two of his men – the two men responsible for killing three Peace Ambassadors at the start of the episode – for the murder of agent Malik. I noticed they decided to go with the Breaking Bad method of disposing bodies. If Breaking Bad has taught me anything though (other than science teachers make great meth dealers), it’s that there’s no way that bathtub would be able to withstand that acid. There should of been a giant hole in that thing.

I’ve also gotta say that I am not in any way a fan of Tyler’s character. He’s so irritating to me that every scene he’s in is hard to watch. They’ve kept him pretty oblivious for the sake of Erica’s character, but it’s turned him into an almost unbearable character in his own right. I think it’s that he’s just so reactionary that annoys me the most. And for the record, it’s never a good idea to film yourself vandalizing things. That will only get you caught.

I was a fan of Erica’s new partner however. I like that the FBI is finally investigating Erica, and the fact that’s it’s being done by an old friend of hers makes it all the more intriguing. When he finally uncovers that she’s Fifth Column, will he turn her in, or listen to what she has to say? If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally (isn’t Star Wars awesome). I look forward to seeing where they take it.