Sorry, Cougar Town Season 5 Episode 10, this episode just didn't leap off page like they usually do.

At the end of the day, I'm just not a big fan of Tom. Small doses of him are good, but when Tom is given an entire episode to interact with the gang, the mojo of everything else is thrown off.

Tom is creepy, and always will be, so his stories end up bringing his creepiness so far that it becomes boring rather than funny. 

Cougar Town tries to sidestep this trait of Tom's by mentioning that Hayley is just looking to make sure Tom is doing alright, so Tom does all of the lies just so he can show her that things are going well and she doesn't need to drop her life to come help him salvage his.

It's a nice, sweet moment for Tom, but it just won't work once Tom is back to putting his shown on because he's still going to be creepy Tom the Neighbor. 

Jules and Grayson do their best to carry on the ruse; both of them diving head first into their "roles" did make for some excellent moments. Particularly, when Grayson was so upset that he didn't know his character was gay. For complexity's sake, he should have known Tom!  

The stronger story involved Ellie stirring the pot for the entire gang. Ellie's complete elation at all the train wrecks happening around her were typical Ellie, but when she gets so giddy that she's like a kid in a candy store - flailing her legs around watching Andy bomb at open mic night - it's just pure gold.

She's in her elements completely. 

Is Tom really creepy?