The title for this week’s episode was apt. Under different contexts, “Leave No One Behind” could refer to Matt, to Smash, to Julie and to Tyra.
Let’s start with Matt, whose struggles with abandonment were the crux of the episode. The scene in the shower was very powerful and contained some great acting by Zach Gilford and Kyle Chandler. It was obvious that Matt was upset about Carlota leaving for Guatemala, but it was surprising that he took all those decisions – Eric’s decision to take a new job, Julie’s decision to chase the Swede and his dad’s decision to stay in Iraq – so personally.
His roller coaster ride of an episode wasn’t without some laughs, however. I knew we were in for some great lines as soon as Riggins pulled up to the motorcycle dealership. Just when you think “I always skip Wednesdays” is going to be the cream of the crop, Tim pulls out this line:
“I was thinking, y’know, hit the museum, yoga, library for a bit. Then again, I might just do the uj.”
Riggins.
For those that are counting, we’ve seen two volleyball games without a football game. While it’s great to see the Lady Panthers winning, I know there are viewers out there that want to see some football. We did get some stretching, a bit of filmwork and a rather cheesy scene at the end with Smash, but no real football action. Are we going to have a game next week or a quick recap at the beginning of the show? The odds are against the Panthers making the playoffs, and hopefully we’ll see it play out on the field, not on the radio or in the past tense in a conversation.
Speaking of Smash, isn’t he being a little dramatic about losing his scholarship to TMU? Sure, it sucks, but if he were to write a heartfelt letter to the school explaining what happened in the movie theater, wouldn’t the team give him another chance? If not, I’m sure there are several other top programs that would like to hear his side of the story. Given the kinds of incidents that are swept underneath the rug in college football these days, defending your sister from a racist asshole is just child’s play. Someone will give Smash a chance.
Julie’s angst seemed a little trite, but she’s a teenager and teenagers are (apparently) pretty dramatic. It wasn’t really clear why Tami had to be there for the DMV test, but she did a nice job of laying a guilt trip on the instructor to get Julie’s test in before the day was over.
Lastly, I must mention the culmination of the Tyra/Landry storyline. All it took for Tyra to realize how much she liked Landry was a little jealousy over his budding relationship, and I thought her speech outside the movie theater was heartfelt (if ill-timed and awkward). But that’s the cool thing about this show – speeches like that rarely come at the right time in real life, so why should they in the sleepy town of Dillon? I feel a little bad for Jean, who seemed like a really good match for Landry, but in the end she just didn’t stand a chance against the long legs of Tyra Collette.
But really, does anyone?
For the time being, it appears the flash-forward is the new flashback, and this is probably the best news of the season. There weren’t many memorable flashbacks last year, so the integration of this new parallel storytelling device is tantalizing at the very least. I don’t expect the flashbacks to be completely discontinued (then again, maybe they will be), but I wouldn’t expect one to crop up for quite some time.
