Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C+ | 5 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Tuesday Night Lights
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.16.2006
Ed Begley Jr. is using a pool cue to bang on the vent in the ceiling of his office. Now, I have to admit that Ed was awesome on Arrested Development, but I still haven't forgiven him for Six Feet Under or Jack & Bobby. I can't promise an open mind, but it'll be at least slightly ajar. Which, given how many things escape from it, is probably its normal state anyway. Ed high-handedly complains about the school's inability to keep the air-conditioner running, and wonders whether it's a statement on the human condition. Veronica: "I'm a freshman. I only recently figured out where Waldo was." Hee. Ed hops down, knocking over a photo, which Veronica picks up. She asks, "Your kids?" but Ed testily corrects her that it's his wife, stepson, and son from a previous marriage. He adds: "Mrs. O'Dell was my grad student back when we could do things like that." She must be pretty precocious to have gone to grad school at the age of nine. Ed congratulates Veronica on her article. Veronica tries to tell him that the editor "took some liberties," and that's a particularly apt choice of phrase considering how many freedoms Ed's about to trample. He tells her that he wants the name of her source and that of the faculty member that supplied the pot seeds. Veronica starts to give the standard protected sources speech, but she might be better served simply to ask HOW MANY BOTANY TEACHERS THERE CAN BE AT A SMALL UNIVERSITY? I suppose Ed wants to prepare his case, but it's not like testimony from Marjorie would be enough to prove anything. Anyway, Ed threatens Veronica with expulsion if she doesn't give up the name, and I'm really glad to see that he isn't wasting time on that pesky rapist when there are diminutive freshmen to illegally intimidate. Also, maybe I'm being hopelessly naïve, but...can he really do that? And how much more bad publicity can he afford? Credits.
Library. Veronica's peacefully studying as VMVO informs us that she refused to give up her source, so Ed gave her a week to change her mind. I'm not loving the solely expository VMVO here. Maybe talk about your plan not to get expelled, or at least throw in a comment about how bad Ed's hair is. Piz appears, and informs Veronica that he's trying to impress Trish, so he needs her help...
...and we cut to a little library meeting with Trish and the Football Dude. Football Dude, by the way, is giving me this vague young-Judge-Reinhold vibe. I'm not really sure what to make of that, but I'll definitely keep an eye on him for signs of close talking. Also, he looks like he's wearing a lot of eyeliner, so clearly he's the rapist. Mystery solved! Judge Football is telling Veronica (and Piz, although his presence hardly seems necessary) that the team's playbook isn't supposed to leave the sports complex, but he missed a few team meetings for academic reasons, so he borrowed it, and now it's gone. Moreover, they change out the book every Monday, and if he doesn't turn in his copy, his scholarship will be revoked. Veronica tells Judge Football her fee is five hundred bucks, causing Piz to tap her and exclaim that that's what she charged him on her friends' rate. Veronica: "It was my friends of friends rate, which I have now extended to friends of friends of friends." Heh, but it's starting to look like just about everyone in Neptune would be able to claim that rate. Except for Lamb, for obvious reasons. Judge Football agrees to the fee, and the group speculates that the book was stolen, either by another team or, as Trish suggests, by someone who wants him off the team. Judge Football explains that he sustained an injury that's limited his playing time, which makes him a "waste of a scholarship," so that could be why someone's targeting him. He tells Veronica that the book was in his bag the whole time he had it: "I never unzipped it until today." Well, if he didn't even bother studying the plays, the stated reason he took the book in the first place, perhaps the people who would cry "Waste of a scholarship!" have more of a point than even they realize.