Cougar Town Episode 1.23 Breakdown

Travis is graduating from high school. He's bummed that outside of his senior photo, there's only one picture of him in the yearbook. His mom, however, was a huge hit in high school. She got 98 percent of the vote for prom queen and they wrote a musical play about her. There's even a picture of her dancing on stage with Bruce Springsteen. It's something you might see in a music video!

Jules encourages Travis to make a submission for the "Every Man" speech. In addition to the valedictorian speech, one average student gets to say a few words at graduation. Jules says, "If you believed in yourself even half as much as I believe in you, you would know you could do anything." She got that line from a Sandra Bullock movie, but it works nonetheless. Trav will give it a shot.

Laurie asks if it would be cool if she skipped Travis's graduation. Smith invited her to the Bahamas and she just loves going to countries where they have handsome young black men wandering around. To do so with her boyfriend would be so romantic. Jules tells her to go with her blessing. But when Ellie wants to bail on the graduation day festivities, Jules threatens to murder her hard.

Travis is picked to do the "Every Man" speech. A thrilled Jules whisks him off to the mall to have t-shirts made to commemorate the moment. Meanwhile, an angry Laurie destroys the new big hat Ellie was planning on wearing to the graduation. Why? She says it's because she's sick of Ellie picking on her. But we get the sense there's more to the story.

Ellie breaks into Laurie's place to exact revenge. Laurie doesn't try to stop her. She's upset because Jules could care less if she missed Travis's graduation. All that seemed to matter was that Ellie would be there. Laurie believes Jules loves Ellie more than her. Those feelings are eliminated when Jules tells Laurie that she has to come to the graduation since her trip with Smith is off. Laurie wonders if Ellie had anything to do with it, but is assured by her nemesis that she didn't. Even though she did.

Bobby has a new notebook to help him keep track of important things like appointments, phone numbers, people he owes money to and the fact that he loves pretzels. He also jots down ideas for things to do to make Travis feel special about his graduation. High school was a big deal to Bobby. It's where he feels he hit his peak.

Remember that car dealership that hid $2,000 in a red balloon? Well, Bobby snags a giant inflatable gorilla from the place and puts a big photo of Travis over the face. It's a grand gesture to celebrate his graduation. Travis asks both of his parents if they could go just one day without embarrassing him. That'll be hard for Jules, as she's stinging from the fact that Bobby is the only parent mentioned in her baby boy's big speech.

RANDOM JULES/GRAYSON UPDATE: The romance is still going strong and is still a secret to everyone but Ellie. Then Andy finds out, too. Stay tuned for further updates.

Graduation day is here! Before the festivities begin, Travis tells his mom that his speech is mostly about his dad because Bobby is always so hard on himself, saying that he peaked in high school. Travis figures a tribute speech would be a nice thing to do. Jules thinks it's a great idea, which is why Travis loves her so much.

Travis takes to the podium to make his speech. Bobby is distracted, as there's red helium-filled balloon across the athletic field. It could be the one holding $2,000. It takes all of Bobby's willpower to not give chase. That would only embarrass his son. But when Travis sees the balloon, he makes the shortest graduation speech in history and takes off after the little red money-maker. The rest of the gang is right behind him having just heard the best graduation speech ever!