(S01E20) Because of the loose nature of the latest episodes of 'Cougar Town,' it's a show that's become very difficult to review.

I can scramble around, trying to write down every funny line that was uttered, which won't give me a chance to really take the show in like I should. But if I take the show in and just absorb it for the plots and characters, I'm finding that I sit in front of my computer to write and can't recall any particularly strong plotlines to talk about. They feel more like plot threads, which are hard to grab and hold onto.

This week those plot threads were a little stronger; they were more like plot ropes. Which, in light of the funny but head-scratching episodes we've seen in the last few months, gives me hope that a balance is being struck.

The one big plot rope seems to be the eventual hook-up of Grayson and Jules. This has been brewing since the pilot, but it never felt like more than a contrivance to me. I still don't feel any chemistry between them beyond friendship. In fact, in the episodes where their potential hook-up was never discussed, I liked the interaction between the two of them better.

Sheryl Crow has never really given a chance to become more than just a part of the gang during her guest stint, which is too bad, since there was a lot of promise in the relationship between Grayson and Sara. That seems to be the MO of Bill Lawrence shows, though; the guest shows up with a big entrance, hangs around and interacts with the group for a few episodes almost as an afterthought, then exits in a plot where the guest is again center stage.

But in the examples I'm thinking of -- Heather Graham on 'Scrubs,' Scott Foley on both 'Scrubs' and 'Cougar Town' -- feature characters that seem to show more dimensions in their limited time than Crow was able to show here. Maybe it's because she's not a great actress, but just her natural ability to be sexy should have worked in this role.

Anyway, I'm just not caring about a potential Jules/Grayson hook-up. Not when we have emotional stand-offs between Andy and Bobby using the oh-so-on-the-mark 'Cats in the Cradle' as the catalyst. Not when Andy's so desperate to find what he and his son share in common, he gets bitten by a goose. Not when Laurie takes shots of that attack and makes Andy famous via YouTube.Not when Bobby feeds himself by swiping cute animals from the local petting zoo. Not when Jules feels every man in her life has cheated on her... and goes back to Jeff (Foley) to confirm it. And not when Travis and Kylie break up, then get back together over their mutual attraction to members of a single family.

In other words, there's too much other fun stuff going on for me to care about the will-they/won't-they stuff. Didn't Lawrence learn his lesson when 'Scrubs' became more about J.D. and Elliot than about the goings-on at Sacred Heart?

More on that fun stuff:

-- Ellie and Sara bonding makes sense, since they both act out in their own ways -- Sara by being good in bed, Ellie by "dying inside." But why would she be so disloyal to Jules and tell Sara that she sees her and Grayson's flirting as dangerous?

-- Who wasn't creeped out by Jules telling her son that no matter how lonely he was, she'd always be there to be his date on a Friday night? I don't care how hot she is... Jules has to remember that the first letter of "MILF" stands for "Mom."

-- The "Don't make me say 'you'" joke really was spot-on when it comes to Jules' personality. Yes, she's giving and magnanimous and nice. But she also knows it and wants everyone else to know it, too. She's kinda like Oprah that way.

[Watch clips and episodes of 'Cougar Town' at SlashControl.]