Stories that have been brewing for some time came to the forefront on Cougar Town Season 5 Episode 7 as Laurie plants one on Ellie, and Jules Bobby attempt to divert Travis some his deadbeat path.
Focusing on the latter, Jules and Bobby's tries at getting Travis on the straight and narrow by throwing Bobby under the bus isn't the first time he's been used (nor will it be the last). This moment between the Cobb family is incredibly familiar, but the reaction from Travis, and to a lesser extent Bobby, is new. Had this been sometime in around Cougar Town Season 2, Travis could very well have gone off the deep end again.
Even in a show like Cougar Town, Travis has been able to mind the gap to adulthood. He decides to go back to Coffee Bucks after blowing his first interview and lands the job. While Travis is now officially out of the deadbeat category, and nearly graduating from college, there's still the problem of integrating him fully within the crew. Perhaps the writing team wants to get him through college before the full integration happens, but in the meantime his relationship with Laurie is stagnating on screen.
Aside from Travis and Laurie exploring their relationship with Jules, there's been almost no developments and interactions have been kept to a minimum. Which is unfortunate since the two are super fun together, and they could be driving a lot of story.
Laurie's other relationship develops when she plants a big kiss right on Ellie. I know, I know, I've been waiting for Jules and Ellie to get in Ellie's truck and ride off into the sunset too, so Laurie kissing Ellie seems like adultery. For all of Laurie's crazy stories we know there's a heart of gold under there, and she's willing to fake a relationship with ice queen Ellie if it means Stan can get into a good preschool; even in fake relationships, Laurie is willing to go all out with Ellie, but sadly for Laurie Ellie can't reciprocate her feelings so she storms out with her sandwich leaving Ellie to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.
As awesome as Laurie and Ellie are together, how they eventually make up felt forced. Only in an alternate universe would the two of them actually be that nice to each other. Their way of making up is usually laced with plenty of burns and jabs at one another, not real affection.
Who would make the best gay couple on Cougar Town?