Date Posted: May 30, 2011
By Amy Van Veen (The Cascade) – Email
Even though some of ABC’s shows last week had a very finale vibe (Modern Family and The Middle), their actual finale night was this last Wednesday. That means Laugh Tracks has met its inevitable summer break and won’t be back until the fall with new shows, season two comebacks and wonderful classics that aren’t going anywhere.
The Middle starts off ABC’s night of finales with a race to summer for the Heck family. Frankie pre-emptively bought a Tiki torch, but the kids aren’t making her declaration of summer very easy. Brick didn’t do his daily journal which will make or break whether he goes on to the fourth grade, which also means Ms. Rinsky for another year. Axl was supposed to do 30 hours of community service for his civics class which he has to have completed by the end of the week otherwise he gets summer school. And Sue is all ready for her perfect attendance award, but according to school records she was gone on October 13th. Amidst all of the last minute rushing, Frankie is realizing how delicate her memory is, something that every mother eventually has to experience. While Brick tries his best to put together the pieces of the last school year even though he can only remember the days he wasn’t reading, Axl tries to double up on his community service by getting his Time with Tots kids to package the Meals that Heal. Sue, on the other side of things, is facing her forced anonymity when she tries to prove to the secretary that she was in fact there on October 13th, unfortunately neither her, nor the nurse who gave her ibuprofen that day nor the band teacher whose practice she disrupted remember that she’s a student never mind that she was there that day. However, the band teacher was filming his rehearsal, so Sue has video evidence of her perfect attendance: cue victory dance. As Frankie drives Brick to drop off his journal and face Ms. Rinsky, Mike helps Axl deliver the last meals, even after they run out of gas and have a father/son moment of appreciation for one another. Ms. Rinsky lets Brick move on to fourth grade because even though she loves him, she can’t take another year of Frankie, which means the Hecks are free to move on to Sue’s graduation. However, the poor girl is such an unknown despite her great efforts not to be that when they announce her perfect attendance, they announce her as Barb Hecky. Hopefully high school will be a little easier on her, but that’s only to be faced after a Heck family summer.
Even though last week’s episode of Modern Family had a finale vibe to it with its title “See You Next Fall,” it concluded this week with the celebration of Jay’s birthday. Everyone has their own idea of what will make his birthday the best, but all he wants is to spend the day going fishing alone on a boat on a lake. Claire and Mitchell want to recreate a childhood photograph of the two of them, which means she has to put on a rainbow t-shirt and pigtails and he has to wear a sailor’s outfit; they then have to find their old house, sneak into the backyard and snap a pic. Shouldn’t be too terrible, except that it’s Claire and Mitchell so the easiest way is rarely the way that finds them. After they park without a permit and hop the fence into the backyard, they get cornered in their old tree house by the dog in the yard and drink Phil’s gift to Jay, a bottle of merlot, while watching her car get towed. Phil, meanwhile, has his gift in Claire’s bag, so he heads to the mall where he runs into his old college nemesis, Glen Whipple. (For those crossover fans, the actor who plays Whipple was also the actor who played Dave’s high school teacher in Happy Endings and the same guy who played Adam’s boss Kevin in Traffic Light.) When Phil conveniently runs into Gloria and Lily, he joins them at the mall and everyone assumes they’re married. Phil takes the opportunity to rub his fake marriage in Whipple’s face, until Whipple asks about Claire Pritchett and Phil becomes overwhelmingly thankful for his real wife. While Manny leans on Cam for some fatherly help that leads to an unfortunate situation in the bakery, Haley, Alex and Luke try their best to compile a video of everyone talking about Jay for his birthday. Unfortunately for them, no one seemed to have any time throughout the year to talk about Jay, but fortunately for us, we get to relive some truly wonderful MF moments including Fizbo the Clown and “Slow Down Your Neighbours.” In the end, Jay has to pick up his own cake and his children who were drunk and stranded in their old yard and then celebrate his birthday with a crushed cake, empty bottle of merlot, a “sexy phone” from Gloria and a delayed photo from Claire and Mitchell. Manny tries his best to fix the situation by putting his fishing boat in the pool, and the new Jay loves the gesture whereas the old Jay would have been ripped off. In true Modern Family style, everyone is together in the end and Mitchell and Cam make a big decision for their family: Mitch wants another child, and Cam wants a boy.
The main event on ABC’s big finale Wednesday was the hour long episode of Cougar Town in which the cul-de-sac crew leaves sunny Florida for sunny Hawaii. Seems like a lateral move, but it is slightly more exotic. It starts with Jules wanting everyone to decide on somewhere to go for a group vacation, even though Grayson thinks a group vacation is “gagbismal.” Ellie wants France, Bobby wants to go to the Cracker Jack Factory, and Jules thinks wine country is where it’s at. In the midst of happy planning, the gang is also dealing with the sadness that is Travis Cobb, and when Jules tags Laurie in for a pep talk, it has an adverse effect and a surprise cameo. While Laurie and Travis talk over some pretty blatant Subway product placement, Abed sits in the background and acts out his extra role we heard about on Community, and then runs off presumably because he indeed pooped his pants. All Travis gets from his conversation with Laurie, though, is that he should run away to Hawaii. Which he does. And then the cul-de-sac crew follows him to combine the rescue mission with their group vacation. In Cougar Town, the hilarity comes not from the plot, as clever as that is, but rather from the menagerie of goodness that ranges from the guys buying matching tourist shirts to fulfill their 80s movie sunglasses reaction, to Ellie complaining about Andy’s choice for proper resort wear in comparison to hers which is a shirt saying “Don’t Bother” to ward off any potential resort buddies. Travis is living in a shack and has been teaching the locals Coco Rock aka Penny Can. Travis’s new friend is Ted Buckland hailing from Scrubs who can make any song sad, cue the most depressing rendition of “Love Shack” ever. Jules tries to drown her sorrows in Big Kimo and Ellie commits Hawaiian suicide when Bobby invades on her and Andy’s personal space. The solution to their little love triangle is for Bobby to be their vacation surrogate so that Ellie can have her adventure and Andy can have his relaxation. Jules and Grayson try their best to avoid talking about their disagreement over having a baby by making it the sexiest weekend ever until they run into a roadblock when Jules forgets her birth control pills. While they go on a condom hunt, Laurie breaks Travis’s heart to prove to him that he can’t make life decisions based on how a girl makes him feel. Ted teaches Jules a lesson about relationships and she opens up to having any adventure with Grayson, including a baby. Andy and Ellie win at couples; and Tom, who has been stalking them the whole time, finally join them for their finale drink. Wonderful, fantastical, cul-de-sac crew adventures fill this quick hour of Cougar Town.
ABC’s night ends with the season finale of Happy Endings, one of the few new shows to survive its first season and prepare for its second. Shershow is getting married. Who is Shershow? Shershow is Shershow, and he was also Penny’s safety, but since Shershow is getting married, the gang tries their best to decide who the new Shershow is. The general consensus is that it’s Max, but Max points to Penny, even though he’s wearing a pajama shirt and bathing suit bottoms out to a restaurant. While Alex deals with the pressure of not having had the “lay down move around” lately, Max has been asked to officiate Shershow’s wedding, a very un-Shershow thing to do, so he goes online to get his license. The only problem is that Jane thought he had his license when he married she and Brad, which means she Beautiful Minds the situation and decides it’s the perfect opportunity to have the second wedding of their dreams, since the first wedding was more about the family and the flower girl who pooped on their wedding. When the gang meets Shershow at the hotel before the rehearsal dinner, Penny feels the pressure and says she’s engaged and Alex gets some heat from the bride for being a wedding jinx. At the wedding, Penny pulls Derek out to play her fake fiancé, and if you’ve been watching the show from the beginning you’ll remember Derek was her gay husband. The only problem is the only two ways he can play straight are Danny Zuko from Grease and Niles Crane from Frasier. Alex and Dave try their best to be friends by being one another’s wingmen, giving Alex the perfect opportunity to trip on a giant photo of the happy couple deepening the suspicion of her as a wedding jinx. At the rehearsal dinner, Penny Shershows it up by giving a drunk speech and falling over with the podium and Alex knocks on Dave’s door only to have the stupid bridesmaid answer. The next morning, Penny sees Shershow runaway grooming it, so she talks him back into it because he’s no longer Shershow, he’s Jason. Alex gives an unwarranted pep talk to the bride which is overheard by Dave, leading to a possible reconciliation that can be uncovered in season two. In the end, they dance, Max talks Penny back up from her Shershow low and Jane doesn’t need the perfect wedding because she’s already got the perfect husband. This show is not only witty, but the cast has that great thing going on where there’s actual chemistry. Friends kind of chemistry, only less white and heterosexual.
For those who are wary about starting in on a new show when so many are epic disappointments, give Happy Endings a chance and get to know the characters and writing that make this show amauzing.
