Jimmy helps Alice cope with a huge mistake. Gaby goes home for a family crisis. Liz runs into an old flame.
Courtney believes Gaby gets paid to talk. Gaby privately insists that her job is to listen. The former mentality frequently defines the stories in this show though. The core characters always insist that they must take action. They can't simply wait for their patients or friends to figure things out on their own. They have to intervene. It's not worthwhile to reflect and allow things to naturally occur. At times, this requires the show to force conflict into happening. The characters act without thinking first. They then complain about how foolish their decisions ultimately were. That has defined many of their stories so far this season. The show resists the urge to just relax into these dynamics and enjoy these characters being around each other. One moment, Jimmy and Liz are shopping together. And then, Liz is screaming at her neighbor for the chaos he frequently invites into her life. That messiness is very accurate though. It presents full layers to these relationships. A solid foundation is present. At times though, stories happen largely for characters to talk about everything they are feeling. That's not always beneficial in actually making the audience feel the emotions of the moment. It's a tricky balance to strike.
Gaby doesn't want the responsibility of caring for her family. She complains about them frequently. She doesn't want to be pulled into the drama happening between her sister and mother all the time. That's how she presents the situation. In reality, she is already involved. She holds Courtney's addiction struggles over her head frequently. She weaponizes it to present herself as the noble person who cared for the family during high school. She now gets to enjoy the freedom of life. That positions Courtney into the caretaker role now. It is forced upon her. She didn't ask for it. She steps up because she loves their mother too. She shouldn't have to sacrifice every other aspect of her life to make this work. Phyllis requires eye surgery. She was at fault for the incident she got in. No serious injuries occurred. Gaby shows up mostly because her word is good enough to convince her mom to do what she doesn't want to do. It's infuriating to Courtney. She can never compete with her sister. Gaby is too closely attached to recognize these boundaries. Jimmy is terrible at giving her space too. He always has to poke his head in and offer his opinion. That's true of everything happening around him. He can't just sit on his hands and let others do what they want.
Jimmy tries to guilt others into offering what he needs from them. Paul and Sean are enjoying the game on television. Jimmy needs to talk about how Sean should approach working with his father. Sean needs to enter the situation with a healthy headspace. He needs to recognize the good will in order to prevent Tim's unexpected reaction from derailing the progress he has made. Those motions are presented. The follow through is different. Sean and Tim are frequently interacting once more. Paul and Sean don't have enough time to get Sean to a place to handle life in a responsible way. Instead, the conversation goes horribly. Sean wants his dad to know that he failed him. He asked for help and Tim didn't offer any. It's not a reflection of bad parenting. It's simply Tim only hearing what he wants. He sees typical therapy speak of blaming the parents for everything that's gone wrong in Sean's life. Sean takes accountability for his own problems. He still has a tense relationship with his father. They are both at fault. Tim refuses to acknowledge that. Instead, he weaponizes all the basic parenting as something he should be praised for offering. All of this reveals that it was a bad decision to work together. They are seemingly stuck. The only way Sean can let out his anger is by getting beat up while outnumbered in a fight. He invites the pain in.
All of these arcs are perfectly reasonable. People have things they need to discuss. Secrets don't always have to be disclosed either. The reactions of others can't be controlled. That provides the entertainment value. However, it's unclear if the introduction of Mac is solely for the Cougar Town reunion or to disrupt Liz and Derek's marriage somehow. A new side of Derek comes out. He hates for the first time. That's a refreshing change of pace even though he's already planning on working things out with Liz. It's a little random. Meanwhile, Summer learning Connor and Alice slept together has the explosive reaction that anyone could have predicted. Alice feels like punishing herself. Jimmy doesn't want her to remain in that headspace. A tattoo may not fix things. He can't guilt her into talking. It's not healthy in this situation. He can't expect a honest reaction by just asking either. Healthy adults can operate like that. Paul can simply pull Susan aside and demand to know why she's here. She wants to reconnect simply because of his diagnosis. She doesn't want to hold onto animosity any longer. It's a very nice sentiment. The story shares more of Paul's backstory. He failed as a father and a husband. That was already known. He's making up now. It's still awkward when the show forces Paul and Brian into a plot together. The narrative just hasn't offered an easy way into that dynamic. And so, some of the conversations come across as more forced. That detracts from the relaxed nature of the storytelling that defines the show when it's at its best creatively.
