Author: John Paulsen (Page 39 of 79)

Tonight’s episode was a great example of how the series can take off-the-field issues and have them play out dramatically in a game. It was obvious that the Laribee coach was troubled throughout the week, and he didn’t earn himself any good karma points by sniping at Eric every chance he got. I enjoyed the chess match at the end of the game, but I was a little confused about who was outsmarting whom. It sure seemed like Eric wasn’t going to fall for the other coach’s trap, but after he called for a Saracen rollout, the other coach was telling his players that that was the play that Dillon was going to run (after saying he was baiting him on the seam pass). So I guess the other coach’s frustration boiled over when he saw Riggins chugging down the field for the go-ahead score despite the fact that he called the right defense.

Anyway, I suspect that the coach tackling Riggins was the “oh, shit!” moment that Will Harris was talking about last week.

I wasn’t real pleased with Julie’s decision to keep the truth from her dad at the expense of Riggins’ reputation, but I was proud of her (yes, proud) that she fessed up at the end. Eric’s apology to Tim was heartfelt; though the timing was a little odd considering Riggins had just stolen $3K from a drug dealer. Hmm, I wonder if that’s going to come back to bite him in the ass.

Speaking of Riggins, he had the line of the week when he told his ex-girlfriend, “If you want to finish the Riggins trifecta, my dad lives in Corpus. I could probably give you his number.” Classic.

I found the whole Shelly storyline a little tedious, and I wasn’t too surprised that she overreacted to Eric’s comments and decided to leave Dillon for Dallas. Just because the Taylors didn’t want her living in their house doesn’t mean she has to move to another city. The whole thing seemed like inorganic drama. (Though it was funny that she taped “The Office” over his game film.)

Lastly, Smash got his wish and verbally committed to TMU. Even though he was going against Eric’s advice by immediately committing, it seemed at the end like we were supposed to feel good about his decision. I guess since that it was always his “dream to play at TMU,” then that was the proper end to that storyline. Also, there’s the potential for Smash’s story to continue if the series gets picked up for another season.

Girls want to be with him and guys want to be him. Tim Riggins got a ton of screen time this week and it didn’t go to waste. He moved in with the Taylors and his initial flirtation with Shelly had me a little worried. A few more days under the same roof (and if Tami hadn’t said anything to her sister) and the two might have had a little tryst when no one was around. Given Shelly’s sauciness and his tendency to fall for older women, it was a serious possibility.

But Riggins can’t catch a break. He does the right thing by protecting Julie at the party, but I had a sick feeling when he was putting her to bed that someone was going to walk in and get the wrong idea. And that’s exactly what happened. Eric’s biggest fault is that he doesn’t listen. What he walked in on certainly looked bad, but he knows that Riggins is a good guy. Their clothes were all on and one look at the condition of his daughter would have confirmed Riggins’ story. But when Eric gets pissed, he just tells people to shut up and then walks away (or kicks them out).

It’s a shame because he had a sort of “son that I never had” vibe going with Riggins. First, he says he likes having Tim around because it “evens up the gender teams” and then the two are playing ping-pong at 5 AM. It will be interesting to see if/how this relationship is repaired. Riggins could use a strong father figure and Eric fits the bill.

The tornado scene was pretty cool and Tim’s actions in the store (in protecting Julie) certainly fueled her little crush. Those two are in two completely different worlds, so a potential relationship would be a bad, bad idea.

Speaking of relationships, what the freck is Tyra thinking? Landry risked his future to protect her, and she drops him seconds later so that she can date the sleazy quarterback from a rival school? It’s one thing to take some “time off,” but to immediately date the enemy is just insane. Her confession at the dance that he makes her “feel too much” spoke volumes, but Tyra is a mature, intelligent young woman. It never should have gotten to that point.

I thought the whole storyline about a tornado forcing a rival team into Dillon a little unbelievable, especially with the way that the Laribee kids were acting. It’s pretty ballsy to walk onto someone else’s turf – someone who’s doing you a favor – and act like a total asshole. Given the enormous depth of most of the show’s characters, I thought the Laribee kids (and their coach) were paper-thin.

In other news, Buddy had to deal with the engagement of his ex-wife (are they even divorced?), which led to a pretty good scene with Buddy begging for another chance on the doorstep of his old house. I like Buddy when he’s feeling good about himself, so let’s hope that he moves on and doesn’t spiral downward into depression.

We should get some football next week with the Dillon/Laribee battle, and given all the off the field drama between the two teams, it promises to be an interesting game.

Landry’s situation really came to a head this week and it took him a long time to figure out that he really shouldn’t go to jail even if he was trying to kill Tyra’s attacker. It was frustrating watching him sabotage his future every chance he got. I think it was Old Yeller’s speech in the bedroom and Tyra’s answer (when he asked her if she was in fear for her life) that really convinced him that he wasn’t going to go to hell for his actions. I don’t think Landry would have made it very long in prison.

Riggins got a ton of screen time this week and it’s clear that his living situation wasn’t really working out. I figured he would have moved out once he found the meth lab, but he stuck it out for a while. I hope that’s the last we see of the Ferret Guy, but I have a feeling he might turn up again. He needs to man up and move back in with his brother.

Riggins had a couple of great lines this week. The first came when Coach Taylor asked him who should volunteer to help the girls’ gymnastics team:

“Top of my head – first guy that comes to mind is Williams.”

The other line came when Coach asked him how he was doing at the gymnastics competition:

“Not so good, Coach. She just hit an 8.6. Stacy should be hitting those double-backs. She’s been her own worst enemy all day.”

I cracked up when he was sitting in the locker room holding one of those gymnastics ribbons. Simply stated, Riggins is a machine.

We did get a lot of football this week and it focused mainly on Santiago’s growing role on the team. He has been conditioned to reject people before they get the chance to reject him, but Buddy wasn’t going to have any of that. His speech in the truck was pretty impressive and it was interesting to see off the field events play out on the field. The show should try to do more of that, if possible.

Jason’s date was pretty funny and it was nice to see him hook up with the waitress. I’m still not sure why he’s not coaching now that Eric is back. He did say something about trying to get out of Dillon and probably feels that if he continues to coach, he’ll stay in Dillon forever.

Matt’s relationship with Carlota seems to be growing, but I’m wondering when the kid is going to learn that it’s a bad idea to listen to advice from Smash Williams. I’m not sure where the romance is headed, but the couple seems happy for now. Matt should be careful about being to open about Carlota – that could come back to bite him in the end.

The Tami/Julie conflict seemed a little forced, but it’s probably more about Julie’s adjustment to having a sister than anything the two actually argued about. There was no mention of the previous week’s interaction with the English teacher, but I’d be interested to see what Eric would do if he caught wind of it.

Now that the Landry crisis is averted, I’m sure his storyline (and the show, as a whole) is going to lighten up a bit. It sure looks like he and Tyra are getting back together – I wonder what Old Yeller thinks of that. I’d still like to see a “I love your son” speech from Tyra.