Author: John Paulsen (Page 41 of 79)

The season started out dark, but over the last two weeks the show seems to be bringing back some of the lightheartedness that makes it so great. However, I must begin by discussing the biggest plot point of the week – Old Yeller’s decision to torch the station wagon to protect his son. When Landry confessed, I wasn’t sure which way it was headed. Would Old Yeller force Landry to turn himself in or would he try to cover up his son’s misdeeds? It turned out to be the latter (which is a LOT more interesting) but I can’t help but wonder just how suspicious it’s going to look when the DMV records show that Tyra’s ex-boyfriend drove a car with the same fibers that were found on the body. Oh, and the car was “stolen.” Hmm.

One thing that might save Landry is the fact that the detectives may not know that he and Tyra were dating, which is the key to linking those fibers to a person of interest. Regardless, the show needs the jovial Landry back – he’s one of the funniest characters on the show.

In other news, Eric found out that his paycheck is short and he had to take the AD job to cobble enough together to make his nut. Based on soccer coach Bobbi Roberts hilarious rant in his office – “I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with ‘occer ball’” – his new job is going to require more work than Buddy and his cohort suggested.

Riggins is back from his “sojourn” – “I don’t know what a sojourn is” – but Eric isn’t going to let him back on the team. I’m not sure why Tim hasn’t told his coach that he went to Mexico because Jason was thinking about having experimental back surgery that involved shark stem cells. After hearing that, Eric would surely cut him some slack, wouldn’t he?

I’m not clear on where this whole Santiago storyline is going, other than to give Riggins a chance to redeem himself. I did like Buddy’s line about where Santiago was before enrolling at Dillion – “He was doing a little juvenile retainer thing for a minute.” If the guy can’t catch the ball, then maybe Eric should put him on defense. I had to laugh when Smash asked Tim if he was starting his own team and when he argued with Matt about who was going to get the ball.

Speaking of Matt, there is a new love in his life, but it’s not Carlota. In fact, Carlota hasn’t gotten much screen time in the last two weeks so I don’t know if that relationship is going to happen anytime soon, if at all. Anyway, Lauren is a nice distraction for QB1, but it’s obvious that the sight of the two of them making out was too much for Julie too handle. But she made her own bed, didn’t she? At least she has Tyra’s shoulder to cry on.

So is the Landry/Tyra manslaughter problem done or is it going to come back to bite them? I have a feeling it’s going to rear its ugly head later on in the season.

This episode’s title has two meanings. It’s Coach Taylor’s first game back as the Panthers’ head coach and he has to deal with the fractured relationship between Matt and Smash. I thought Matt’s comments over the chili dinner were pretty strong and it looked like Eric took them to heart. Though when it was time to play the game, he played hardball with the two kids and forced them to reconcile. Matt’s “BFF’s once again” line was great.

The second meaning is Eric’s desire to get busy with Tami. His conversation with his assistant coach was hilarious, and I loved his spiel to his wife about Wednesday night: “What happens on Wednesday nights? Well I would know that because of this new chart I created. Gee, Wednesday night is book club night.” I’m happy that we’re getting some more of the classic Taylor banter again. Their dynamic really drives the show.

Eric’s interaction with Landry was pretty funny. He called “Lance” into his office and Landry replied, “Lance? You mean Landry?” He called him Lance again during the game, but you have to give Landry credit, he went in there and made a couple of good plays to turn the game around for Dillon.

Things, however, are not as good at home as the manslaughter seems to be catching up to him. Old Yeller has put two and two together and decided that it added up to Tyra being out of Landry’s league. I thought Tyra missed a chance to squash that by saying “Sir, I love your son” when he dropped by her house, but she was probably so thrown by his visit (and request) that she didn’t have the cojones to respond that way. She was really harsh when she broke up with him, but she probably had to be. The tears she shed afterwards spoke volumes about her true feelings for Landry. What a bittersweet feeling for him though, getting dumped and then going back inside the restaurant where the Dillon faithful were still chanting his name.

Thankfully, it looks like the Mexico trip is finally over. It was pretty funny when Lyla asked Riggins about his plan and he presented his booze cruise idea. I did like the fact that Riggins stepped up and spoke candidly about his feelings for Jason and how he wouldn’t let him go under the knife. It was a weird moment when Jason threw himself in the water, but maybe he needed to face death to discover that he really wanted to live. I’m not sure what the whole double kiss thing meant at the end, but there seems to be a lot of sexual tension between Lyla and Riggins.

By the way, did Jason ever find out that Eric returned to Dillon? If so, you’d think he’d feel a little better about his life now that there was a coach there that respected his ability to bring something to the team. Maybe Lyla should have mentioned it.

It was good to see Matt stand up to Julie. Sure, he still has feelings for her, but she can’t just expect to get him back after the thing with the Swede fell through. I expect the two will get back together at some point, but I’d like to see the breakup drag out for a while (and Matt to get a little action from Carlota, though there was no progress on that front this week).

Overall, I really liked the episode. It feels like the old “Friday Night Lights” again, but let’s hope that Landry can dodge the law and get Tyra back at some point. Whatever Old Yeller thinks, they make a great couple.