Cougar Town Episode 2.05 Keeping Me Alive

Laurie suggests a way to make the always-challenging game of Penny Can a little more interesting. She calls it "Truth or Penny Can." If you miss, you must answer a personal question. Sounds like fun!

Secrets are quickly revealed in this new version of everyone's favorite copper-clinking game. When Jules misses, we learn she has trouble pronouncing the word "ruin." It comes out sounding like "roin." When Laurie misses, we learn that she recently got "vagazzled." Don't ask. And when Bobby misses, Ellie asks, "Does taking alimony from Jules feel more like stealing or feel more like putting your pride in a burlap sack and throwing it off a bridge?" Ouch!

Jules has trouble relating to a client who's a little too redneck. But the guy has no trouble getting along with Bobby, who stops by to tell Jules that he no longer wants to take alimony from his ex. The day just keeps getting better for Jules after she steals Grayson's fries and Travis makes her feel needed when he asks her to do his laundry. Her enthusiasm wanes a bit when Andy says Bobby dropped his health insurance to make ends meet.

Jules offers Bobby a job at her office that'll allow him to get on her health insurance plan. She wants him to keep himself busy by sharpening pencils and dreaming up new ways to drum up business. But the boss lady isn't happy when she learns that Bobby started a promotional campaign by plastering Jules' face onto cans of beer. Her office is soon filled with a bunch of partying vagrants. Bobby doesn't see the downside. Technically, homeless people should be a real estate agent's target audience, right?

When Jules flips out, Bobby realizes this was just a charity job. He says, "You're always so quick to help me out, but you never really want me to help you." The guy has a point and Jules finally agrees let Bobby take a shot at selling a house to that redneck guy. Unfortunately, Bobby mistakenly refers to the man's wife as his mama. Okay, so he blew the sale. On the bright side, he and Jules now have a better understanding of each other.

Ellie is glad Travis is home for a spell. He’s her intellectual buddy. The rest of the cul-de-sac crew believes Mexico is an island because it has beaches. This simplistic reasoning could stem from the fact that they spend countless hours trying to toss a penny into a can instead of doing something constructive like reading a book. Apparently, instruction manuals don’t qualify as real literature.

Jules takes issue with the fact that Ellie thinks she's smarter than the rest of them. The gang gives Ellie a pop quiz which reveals that she may not be as brainy as she thinks. Seriously, would an intelligent woman really blog about Project Runway? Ellie has to resign herself to the fact that she's just like the others. Travis begs to differ. He says they are both brilliant on a level that others can’t even comprehend. They both fake being smart and superior even though they don't really feel it inside. It’s genius!

Laurie boxes up all of the things she kept at Smith's place as his dad looks on with great delight. As far as breakups go, this one seems to be as smooth as you can get. Andy and Grayson worry that Laurie is taking her heartbreak a little too well. That could be because she's still sleeping with Smith. They're just friends though. And when Smith makes this clear, Laurie still shows no signs of heartbreak.

Grayson still doesn’t buy Laurie's tough girl act. He's been there and done that. That's why he feels so fortunate to be part of the cul-de-sac crew. They’re always there for each other. Grayson and Andy decide to keep pushing until Laurie admits that she's hurting. They engage in an emotional intervention. They prepared for the event by watching Good Will Hunting. Andy does a solid Robin Williams impersonation and Laurie finally lets her emotions out. This makes her friends both happy and sad. Us, too.