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Turns out life is what happens when you're waiting on the results of a football game in the county. Or something like that.
Word is out that the Streets are suing Coach Taylor, and the town is not happy about it. Jason can't even roll grittily down the street accompanied by gritty guitars without getting dirty looks anymore. But even Jason realizes that his parents are between a rock and a hard place, financially, and so...they wait.
Tyra apparently lives in the middle of a Lifetime special with a stepdad named Bob who ogles her butt and punches her mom, so she goes after him with a fire poker and drives him away, but her ratty mom almost goes right back to him until Tyra tells her mom to pick between her or Bob, and her mom lurches out of her Valium haze long enough to do the right thing. Meanwhile, Tim apologizes to Tyra and tries opening the door between them again, but for that we'll have...to wait.
Smash is still after Waverly even though she'd rather polish her trumpet than listen to him talk about football, so he hatches this plan to pretend like he hangs out with Matt Saracen and talks about I-raq and stem cell research, and so Smash and Waverly and Matt and Julie go out on a double date to the rodeo, and Smash tries to act like he goes to Cocteau films. But an arm-wrestling contest is too much to resist and he starts talking about himself in the third person again. And so...oh, Smash isn't waiting for anything much 'cept for Smash!
In the end, the game in the county turns out in the Panthers' favor, so Dillon is going to State, and Matt sends his dad back to Iraq. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Shots of an empty stadium, empty hallways, a grey, colorless landscape in the early morning autumn light, and Panther Football Radio expositing that all of Dillon will be waiting on the outcome of a game between Arnett Mead and Buckley to see if they'll get into the playoffs. Limbo. Coach Taylor drives and furrows. Cut to the field, the boys are in practice while Coach spouts quite a monologue about how they have to stay focused: "Some things you can control and some things you cannot. Time you cannot control. Time is our enemy. I do not want you all driving yourselves crazy this week. Whatever happens happens." The boys run and ram, the cheerleaders practice off to the side, Tim shoots a look over at Lyla. Coach keeps yelling, telling the boys that if "God or Buckley defense decides we get one more shot at this thing, then we gotta be ready!"
At the Alamo Freeze, Smash sits in Smash's booth and talks nonstop football, strategizing that Buckley needs to play some kid named "Denny." Waverly is sitting across with him, sighing and rolling her eyes, bored. She finally gets up and leaves without a word. Smash asks where she's going and she tosses back: "I got a trumpet needs polishing." Left unsaid: "...and that trumpet is made of brass, not Smash." Smash watches her leave and shakes his head, muttering to his boys that "She gonna play me. She don't get it. She don't even get it."
In the Saracen household, Grandma paces in front of the television in her nightgown, tossing a football between her hands and muttering her own strategy about what Buckley needs to do to beat Arnett Mead. Matt goodnaturedly jokes that he'll tell Coach about her suggestions. As he rushes to leave, he knocks a glass off the table and it shatters. Henry comes in and the two men kneel down to wipe up the mess. Henry asks his son if Grandma is talking any sense, whether Buckley has a chance in hell to beat Arnett. Matt tells his dad that Arnett is heavily favored, but that Buckley has this Denny, who is the kind of player who can just break a game wide open. Henry looks at his son and sweetly tells him that he hopes this Denny beats the crap out of Arnett, because he'd like to see Matt QB in the playoff game. Recapper Heart Check: slightly thawed toward Henry, with scattered ice crystals around the edges. Matt crankily replies that his dad won't even be in Dillon by that time anyway. Henry replies that actually he will be there, that he isn't going back to Iraq, "if that's all right with you." Matt stutters and sputters by way of saying "hell yes, it's okay" before reaching out and shaking his dad's hand. Sweet.
Coach and Tami drive home, Coach furrowing and muttering about the game. Tami tells him to think about something else, maybe...."little children?.....in India?...." Coach tells his wife there is nothing else in the world to think about. I guess if I had hair like him I wouldn't think about poor kids in India, either. They pull up to the house and get out of the car, only to be approached by a friendly man telling them "Coach Taylor? You've been served." The Taylors are dumbstruck, and ask by who. Friendly Fellow is friendly when he tells them Coach is being served by the Streets, and then asking, "Hey, Coach, you think Buckley's got a chance?" Coach just looks up, slackjawed, in response.
Uninspiring Credits. The Taylors are in bed, Tami wondering out loud how the Streets could do this. Coach tells her that they can't "take it personal," that they were probably advised by lawyers. He mutters about being covered by the school, that it isn't personal, that "it's what people do." The phrase "it's what people do" is just one more in a line of homespun aphorisms this show spins, somehow summing up the issue nicely and neatly.
Bar band guitars as Jason wheels out of his house on a sunny day and wheels down the street with a slight smile on his face. Cut to him pulling up in front of a convenience store. He wishes "Clint" a hearty good morning and tries to pull the store owner into some small talk about the game on Friday. Clint tells him he doesn't have time, that he's got a lot of work in the back that needs doing and promptly leaves Jason at the counter. Jason's reaction shows us that this cold treatment is unusual (as do the sharp notes the guitar in the background is hitting), and that he doesn't understand it. That is, until we follow his gaze as it rests on the local newspaper, which beckons readers to turn to the sports page to read about how "Local QB Family Sues Coach." Just then, Explosions in the Sky (pre-Friday Night Lights Era-seeming) explodes in the background and we cut to Jason racing back down the road, sweating and angsty. Gritty Wheelchair Guy! Love him.
At the Saracen household, Henry's on the phone with a pile of bills in front of him, while Matt asks him if Grandma's medical bills will be covered under "the F-1 provision." Henry doesn't think so, but says that he can't make heads or tails of any of it. Matt awkwardly asks his father how the job hunt is coming, and Henry has time to tell him that Dillon isn't a boom town before the person on the other line returns to the phone.
Cut over to Lifetime Television for Women, where some nasty, greasy man in a Hanes t-shirt twangs about how Jason Street should not be suing the Panthers. A tired, blonde woman washes dishes at the sink. Tyra walks in and snarks, "Why not, Bob? 'Cause they treated him so nice?" Cut to Bob looking Tyra up and down. Not good. Bob gestures his coffee mug toward the tired blonde, saying "Honey? Honey?" Tyra's mom rushes toward him to refill his cup. Bob nasties, "You see these jeans your daughter is wearing?" Mind you, the jeans are not all that low-rise or even all that tight. Tyra rolls her eyes and gives her mom a hug. Adrianne Palicki is one hot mama Amazon, though. Bob sees his own Nasty and raises himself a Predator by remarking, "You ladies have a genetically superior ass. Runs in the family." Tyra shoots him a withering look as she heads out the door to school.
At the Streets', Jason screams at his parents, telling them about what happened at the convenience store. "I told you this was gonna happen. On top of bein' a cripple kid, now everyone's just gonna hate me." His father hands his mother a copy of the paper before fleeing out the front door. GOD. Way to be there for your family-in-crisis. I hate Mr. Street. Jason's mom sits down with him and tries to explain. She tells him that she would do anything for him but explains, "We need money. I've come to terms with the fact that there are people in this town who aren't going to understand that." She apologizes to her son and tries to rationalize, "I mean. Coach should have put you through tackling drills, right? He should have done that." Jason softens and reaches out to his emotional mother. I do love Gritty Wheelchair Jason, but the grittier and more complex Jason Street gets, the more obvious it is that Scott Porter is in his twenties.
At practice, Coach gathers the boys around to announce "The Annual Woman's Booster League Rodeo Fundraiser and Fair." The boys groan, and Coach quickly shouts "Shut up! Shut up!" He tells them that he knows they'd rather all sweat out game night on their own, but that they are "all gonna show our asses up with smiles on our faces."
Cut to Matt walking into Buddy Garrity's car dealership. Buddy welcomes him and Matt stutters that if he's busy...Buddy tells him "Nonsense, son. Those are just people, you're mah quarterback" before giving him the chompers grin. He brings Matt into his office, full of intimidating stuffed deer heads where Matt inarticulately tells Buddy that his dad is staying in Dillon so that Matt doesn't have to move to Oklahoma. Matt continues to talk, slowly and painfully, half-mumbling about how his dad needs to find work in Dillon. Buddy doesn't seem to quite catch on to what Matt is saying -- or, if Buddy is the evil mastermind we think he might be, he knows, but just wants to make Matt say it so as better to lord his power over the poor kid -- so Matt stumbles and stutters, until he finally spits it out "If maybe you...if you know of anything...or...maybe...have any suggestions or anything?" Buddy puts him out of his misery, telling Matt that he could probably use a salesman, and to send his daddy over to him, "and I'll take care of him." Zach Gilford continues to make babies spontaneously appear in millions of women's homes by doing his wide-eyed, surprised doe look: "Are you? Are you? Thank you so much Mr. Garrity!" As he leaves, Buddy calls after him, "Hey, you like to hunt?" Oh no. Don't bring our baby deer out in the fields, please!
Inside a mid-century-looking pharmacy. My heart aches for places like this in the South. When I lived in, Monroe, Louisiana, we had Aron's Pharmacy, Gift, and Grill, the best place in the world; the place where you can go pick up your prescription, a Hummel figurine, and then have an eighty-year-old lady cook you up a delicious hamburger on the flattop in the back of the pharmacy. Mr. Street is hanging up a phone call when Coach comes in. Coach asks to talk to him, and the first thing Mitch says is "I'm so sorry." Coach wants to know who is behind this. Mitch tells Coach that he just didn't know what else to do. Coach lets him know that when he got served, he knew that the papers weren't personal, that they weren't coming from Mitch and Joanna. Mitch tries to explain about the expenses they have. Coach whispers, starting to get agitated, instructing Mitch by insinuating that Mitch must know a law suit is not a good idea. Coach continues, asking Mitch what he hopes to prove, saying they were all there and they all know it was a horrible accident. Mitch tries to interject, saying he can't talk to Coach about this, but Coach presses on, until Mitch emphatically says, "I cannot talk to you about this." So much in that "you."
Mitch lashes out a bit, telling Coach to stop feeling so sorry for himself, telling him that he should try "losing your child's legs, losing your child's future, and losing every penny you have ever saved." Nice parallel structure, Mitch, but I'm not sure when paralyzed legs began equalling McDonald's employee for life. I mean, why is everyone so worked up about Jason's future? He's going to go to college, get a job, have a good life. Anyhow, Mitch continues, explaining the real issue of this lawsuit, and that is that American health care costs are fucked. Which you don't have to tell me about, since I went to the hospital for a fever last summer, stayed for two nights, got no diagnosis, and a bill for $30,000. Mitch talks about the ramps, doorways, "the unending equipment and physical therapy." He tells Coach that it's killing him to undertake this lawsuit. "But, since I'm already dead, doesn't really matter anyway, now does it?" Cool it, Sarah Bernhardt. Jesus. "Already dead." A kid in a wheelchair ain't no Darfur. Mitch orders Coach out of the pharmacy.
Henry and Matt show up at the car dealership. Matt introduces his father to Buddy. Henry is wearing a suit and fiddling nervously with his tie. Recapper Heart Check: Okay, okay. They did it. My heart is warmed. For now (spoiler!). Buddy leads Henry off to show him the cars, and Matt stays behind, his face split wide open in a grin, looking to his right and left grinning at no one in particular.
At school, Smash catches up with Waverly, asking her how her tuba is. She replies, "Bright and shiny. And it's a trumpet. How's the endless speculation about who's gonna win that game?" Nice. Smash tries to remind her that his life hangs in the balance of that game and then asks her why she walked out on him the other day. She reminds him that he wasn't talking to her. He stops her and turns her toward him, telling her that there are a few rules she needs to know. She's incredulous. "Number one? Don't nobody walk out on Smash." Waverly retorts, "Oh, the return of the third person. Listen, as fascinating as it is to sit there and listen to everyone talk about how great you are, The Waverly has better things to do." Oh, snap! And, oooooh, yo momma! Smash whines a bit and says he thought she liked him. She says she does but doesn't think they have anything in common. Smash tells her he'll have whatever she wants to have in common in common with her. She's game for this game, and so asks if there is anything about him not football-related. Smash is like "Hell, yeah!" and then furrows a bit while he pauses to think of something. Smash finally basically just looks around until he sees Matt and Julie in the distance: "Matt Saracen and Julie Taylor. We chill all the time." He goes on, weaving quite the web of lies, and we the viewers have nothing to do but contemplate all the fun we'll have later in the episode watching Jack Tripper, er, Smash try to convince Waverly that what he said was true. Smash drawls that they talk about "immigration, I-raq, books, music, stam cell research, global warming, you name it." Watch your back, Jim Lehrer. Smash asks Waverly to come with them to the rodeo. She's charmed and tells him they'll "give The Waverlash one last try." Smash, in his turn, is charmed, "The Waverlash? That Smashmouth is contagious, girl!"
Saracen household. Matt is somewhat frantic in the kitchen, the microwave beeping, the teakettle boiling, his grandmother nagging at him about the tea, and Julie standing at the storm door, banging on it with her fist, her mouth pulled in a tight little frown. Matt sees her and realizes something: "Oh, shoot." He opens the door and as he apologizes, Julie accuses, "I've been sitting in the library for an hour." Matt continues apologizing and then by way of explanation starts ticking off the Sisyphean tasks he got caught up in when he stopped at home: convincing his grandmother there's no mouse in the house, cleaning up, making dinner for his dad, et cetera. As he lists these things, Grandma is in the background pacing, the tea kettle is whistling, and you just want to scream from the overwhelmingness of it all. Julie quickly lets go of her anger, puts her bag down and says "Okay. How 'bout you make dinner and I'll make your grandma some tea." That's some good hometraining this girl has. Matt pauses and then asks, "Would now be a good time to tell you I told Smash we'd double date with him and Waverly and pretend like we do that a lot and we talk about all sorts of neat stuff besides football?" Julie raises her eyebrows. These little proto-adults, trying to figure out how to be humans. I love it.
Over on Lifetime, Tyra sits just beyond a room papered in hideously-oppressive black-and-white plaid, trying to do some homework, while her mom and Bob scream at each other in another room. Their argument is totally nonsensical, but very loud and heated. Bob screams that people leave her because she drives people crazy, and then hauls off and backhands her across the face. Tyra immediately gets up with a "hell, no" look on her face, grabs a fire poker, and goes after Bob. He scrambles and runs all over the room; she's right on his tail, and it seems like she connects a few times. Tyra screams for him to get out of the house, finally gets him cornered, and gives him a few whacks before losing her grip on the weapon. Bob quickly takes it up and raises it at her. While Tyra's mom screams shrilly in the background, Tyra just says quietly and lowly, "Do it. Do it," staring Bob down until he drops the poker and storms out the door. Dude, this girl could take Tori Spelling with both hands tied behind her back.
At the Taylor house, Coach and Tami sit quietly, Coach watching football, Tami doing some reading, some soft jazz on in the background. Julie shuffles in the room and Tami turns to say "Hey, babe" to her daughter. Julie squeaks, "I love you guys. And you guys are the best parents in the world. Good night." Coach turns to his wife with the smarmiest grin on his face, and his hair just oozing "Job Well Done." Cut to Tami, who looks concerned as she tells her husband, "No, honey, somethin' terrible must have happened!" and gets up to run to her daughter. Never in the history of television have Venus and Mars been played off one another so successfully. Except, perhaps, Bosom Buddies.
Cut to the Taylors gathered at the bar between the kitchen and living room, Julie telling her parents what a hellish situation Matt is in at home. She looks down, and says his home life, combined with school, and work, and football, "I feel like...I feel like it's just gonna crush him." Coach responds with a semi-demented gesture of reassurance, "Nothin's gonna crush Matt Saracen. He's like a little stinkbug, you can't crush him. He's tough." Tami confirms her daughter's concerns, though, and tells her daughter to have Matt come see her at school. Which wouldn't be awkward at all, I'm sure. Your girlfriend's hot mother counseling you on time management? Julie goes off to bed, thanking her mom and telling her she's the best. Coach calls after his daughter, "Hey, what about me? What do you mean she's the best?" These two are quickly starting to rival the Huxtables as the imaginary people I most hope to emulate should I ever have kids.
Tyra walks into her mom's bedroom to find her curled up in bed. What a loser. Tyra asks her mom if she's going to get up, and her mom cries that she doesn't think Bob is coming back. Tyra responds, somewhat bafflingly, "C'mon mom, he's just a stupid guy. It's not like Jesus Christ just left you." And, oh, the possibilities that open up in my mind about the various sitcoms, dramas, and dramedies that could be built around Jesus the Wife Beater. Tyra's mom sniffles about not wanting to be alone. Tyra reminds her mother that she isn't alone, that she has her. Her mom doesn't respond, Tyra notices the bottles of pills to her mom, and walks out of the room.
At Buddy Garrity's, Buddy watches Henry seemingly closing a deal. But then the old folks Henry was talking to shake his hand and walk off. Buddy goes out and asks Henry where they were going. Henry replies that it wasn't a good time for them financially. Which is why they found themselves on a car lot in the first place? After finishing their meal of gruel they decided to take a ride over to the car dealership to see what cars they can't afford. Buddy tells Henry that "it's never a bad time with 5.9% financing." I haven't ever bought a car that cost more than $5,000, so I guess I don't know from financing. Buddy tells Henry to come with him and we cut inside to Buddy's office where he is fully suggesting that Henry wear a flag pin on his lapel "to remind people that you served this country for twenty years." Henry is not too keen on using his military past to sell cars. Buddy tells him that salesmen sell things, "you are what you are." Nice echo of Coach's opening "it's what people do." Buddy smarms that the men in the military are what make this country great, selling Henry a pile of shit for the cost of his dignity, without even blinking. Henry reaches out, takes the pin and puts it on his lapel. Buddy: "Yes, sir. Looks good." Henry: stares blankly.
Jason claws a pen in his hand, trying to write something. Lyla finishes making him a sandwich and brings it in his room. She pauses as she passes the couch, on which a set of blankets and pillows sit. She asks Jason if they have house guests, and he clarifies: "Nah, that's my dad. He and my mom are just fighting a lot now." Lyla asks Jason if he thinks the lawsuit is the best idea. Jason asks her if she's "been talkin' to Buddy." She says no, that she is just asking him "as someone who loves you and is on your side." She's a little too perfect, sometimes. Jason says that he can't think of another solution, that everything costs so much. Lyla suggests that the town would look after him, but Jason realizes that they don't live in Green Acres and tells her that charity wouldn't last long. He tells Lyla that the situation kills him but that maybe the lawyers are right, that maybe if someone had taught him how to tackle somebody he wouldn't be in a wheelchair. Which is all, obviously, bullshit from a legal standpoint, but believable from a last-gasp-make-this-random-accident-less-random human rationale standpoint. Lyla tells him that she's with him, if he thinks it's for the best. Jason smiles and asks her "What is it with you? That you want to screw your life up so bad?" Lyla tells him that love makes people kinda crazy, and I dry heave a tiny bit. But then I quit because I see how perfectly they've handled the natural lighting in this scene.
Saracen house. Henry comes home; Matt asks his dad brightly how his day at work was. Henry's got the loosened-tie look going, and he seems pretty deadened. Matt looks after his father with concern as he goes to wash up.
Dusk. Matt is sitting on the front stoop of the little shotgun house. The light in this scene is beautiful. Julie walks up and asks him what he's doing. He says he's just sitting there, wishing that Arnett loses so they get to go to the playoffs so that he doesn't have to spend every day of his life "wonderin' 'what if' as I punch in at the feed store." Julie suppresses a smile at Matt's overwrought Springsteen fantasy, before asking, "The feed store?" Zach Gilford does a really nice subtle turn from "pity party" to "laughing at myself." He asks Julie what she's carrying, and we see she's got multiple containers in her arms. Her mom has made a bunch of casseroles and frozen them for the Saracens. Which is no small thing to do, expense or time wise. It's so sweet. I need to get out of the city. Low angle shot as she gets on the stoop with him
Matt asks if he's so pathetic he deserves casseroles, and Julie tells him that he just does so much, she thought it would help out. They are both on the stoop, hunched over their legs, and something about the way they sit there together, supporting one another makes me want to stand up and start belting out "Summer of '69." It's so iconic, the stoop, the crickets, the train in the distance, Matt's sweatshirt, Julie's One Stars, the hose curled haphazardly in the front yard; I want to frame a still of this shot and organize an art show around it titled "New American Gothic." I also want another glass of wine.
Matt pauses before telling Julie that he doesn't know what he was expecting having his dad back. Julie suggests his dad just needs to settle in. Matt says that it seems the more he settles in the more uncomfortable he gets. Matt says he wanted his dad to want to be home, to not just be home. He continues, realizing that his dad is good at being in the army, and that now he's home being a dad he has to "wake up every morning and sell cars for Buddy Garrity." He snarls that "Buddy Garrity" in a perfect utterance of subtle disgust. Matt realizes he can't take it personally that his dad isn't happy. Au contraire, mon sweetiepie! He's your father. And if takes scraping the saliva off of Buddy Garrity's wet chin for him to take care of you and get a paycheck, he does that and he doesn't make you feel bad for him having to do that. Julie tells Matt that he can get angry, but Matt won't: "He's trying. What else can you really ask of anyone?" Julie leans in and they smooch. And then I die.
The rodeo! A bunch of establishing shots, which show both rodeo activities (bucking broncos) and carnie crap (death trap rides, cotton candy), and as a Texan I consulted declared, it's all highly unrealistic that the two would be in the same place. Rodeo and Whack-a-Mole go together like oysters and milk on Shabbat. But the people are having fun blaspheming, it seems.
The Taylors sit in their car as Coach furrows and worries. He says he's getting a lot of gray hair this week. To which I say: bring it on. Gray hair emotes just as well as black. To wit: Sir Ian McKellan. Tami reminds her husband how good he is at what he does, and he quickly retorts that the problem is that it isn't up to him. Tami is speechless (for once) until her husband snaps that he's sorry that they have to go to the rodeo. Tami says, "I know, I know" and then mashes a cowboy hat on her head as they get out of the car.
Waverly walks with Julie as Julie natters on about "an art house movie theater...about forty miles from here." Julie tells Waverly that she just saw Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. She's got one up on me. I was probably IMing with Joe R about how awesome Svetlana is on the RW/RR Challenge that night. ["Okay, but she totally is! Did you see her beat Kina??" -- Joe R] Waverly sighs with ecstasy over the prospect of seeing Cocteau. If I were a different sort of recapper, I might suggest that Smash seems more than willing to take her to see Cocteau. Julie mentions that even Matt liked the movie, and Waverly asks her to pause: "Matt goes to foreign art movies with you?" Julie realizes what she's done, so she backtracks a bit and says that Smash does, too, that he thought the movie was really interesting!
Cut to Smash and Matt watching the girls watch. Smash asks Matt what Julie's getting him into. Uh, Cocteau, is what. Matt replies, "Italian cinema," which makes me wonder if Julie also dragged him to a midnight screening of Satyricon. Smash seems distracted and Matt asks why; Smash tells him that Denny blew a knee. Matt moans and groans about how they're finished now, but Smash is still muttering somewhat nonsensically, clearly not focusing on the football game. Matt asks him what he's talking about, and Smash tells him that he's never had this problem with a girl not paying attention to him. Matt suggests that it's Waverly's way of getting Smash to pay attention to her. Smash says he doesn't want to, that he wants her to pay attention to him. And there it is, my marriage in thirty seconds. Thanks, Peter Berg! Matt tells Smash that if he really likes Waverly, he needs to get used to a new way, and then cuts to the chase, "So, seriously, Denny blew out his knee?"
Cut over to a group of men, watching the game on a portable TV, Buddy right up in front. His wife comes and gets him, scolding him for who knows what. Buddy gets up and goes with her, to who knows where.
Cut to Tyra and her mom, wandering amongst their kinfolk, the carnies. Tyra asks her mom if she ever thought of moving out of Dillon. Her mom told her that she did, once, to live in Dallas when she was eighteen. Tyra wonders what happened, and her mom starts to explain that she fell in love with Tyra's father, who wouldn't leave Dillon, so... Their mother-daughter time is cut short, though, by some dude dropped in from A&E's Intervention, as Bob appears behind them, looking like he just got back from Shreveport or something. He asks to talk with Tyra's mom; she looks pleadingly at her daughter, who gives her the "don't go" eyes, but her mom goes to talk with him, and Tyra walks off, trying to hold back tears.
Hello, lover! It's Tim Riggins, drifting lazily across the screen, all eyeliners and sheepskin-lined coat. Again, I say: hello, lover! The soundtrack says it, too, so I know I'm not alone. He moves toward Tyra. We cut to Jason wheeling out of his van, Lyla asking him if he's ready for this, Jason saying he is.
Cut to Tyra sitting out back of something. Her mom approaches her and sits down. "Tyra, people have fights." Tyra's not a dumbass, and so she corrects her mother, "People have fights every day. They don't let men beat the hell out of them." Tyra tells her mom how much she loves her, that she is an amazing woman, and a good mother, "But, god, you are such a loser when it comes to men." Tyra's mom looks down. Tyra gives her mom an ultimatum, telling her that if Bob comes back she's moving out. Tyra's mom asks her to not be silly, but Tyra cuts her off: "It's him or me. You choose."
A crowd has formed around an arm wrestling contest. Smash watches and mutters about strategy as Waverly asks him about "that concert at UT." Smash tries to cover, "Oh, the one I went to with Matt and Julie?" But Waverly is not as dumb as she doesn't look, and she tests him, asking him who he saw. Smash stutters, "This band....uh..." Waverly gives him lots of options. Was it a band? A man? A woman? A symphony orchestra? Smash looks slackjawed until Waverly finally confronts him: "You got them to lie to me?" Smash tells her it's her own fault and then busts out on her ("I'm Smash!") before busting out into the arm wrestling contest. Where's the 'roid rage?
Tyra lugs a huge neon pink bear out to a trash can. Tim comes around the corner to check on her. Hello, lover! He asks if she's okay, and she says she isn't really. She explains that it's about Bob. Isn't it always about Bob? Tim says he's sorry and looks intently at her, his eyes fringed with those luscious eyelashes. What? Is this overkill? Tyra says that she hates this trait in the women in her family, that they let men treat them like crap. Tim sighs and says that's what he's there to talk to her about. Tyra has a sort of inscrutable look on her face, she looks expectant but also pretty hardened to whatever Loverboy's going to say. Tim says, "I am truly sorry for everything that's happened. For everything I've put you through. For that thing with Lyla. I was a complete jerk and I am sorry." Wow. Tyra's like, well, shit, it's pretty hard to be a tough chick in the face of that kind of apology. But she persists. Tim asks her if she'd consider giving him a second chance, and his asking lets her off the hook a bit. She tells him that there have been so many times that she wanted to hear that from him, but she can't says yes now, because that would make her a hypocrite about her mom and Bob. Thanks a lot, Bob. As she leaves, she tells Tim, "I guess time is everything." Can't control it, but it is everything.
Back at the arm wrestling table, Smash goes over the top to the cheers of the crowd, but when he notices Waverly has walked away, he looks upset. Did he really think that she'd stick around to watch him arm wrestle? Those steroids are doing a number on his central cortex.
Coach stands alone and notices Jason wheeling by. Slight slow motion as the two men look intently at one another. Jason's face is open and looking for a gesture that will invite him over to talk, but Coach's face is tight and set, playing defense against the kid. Jason finally turns and wheels off with Lyla at his side. No! I can't take a rift between these two!
The rodeo announcer interrupts himself when he sees a play brewing during the Arnett/Buckley game playing on the TV set to him. He puts his microphone to the television, and so the whole rodeo hears the announcers excitedly calling a miracle touchdown by Buckley. The camera cuts between Buddy, Smash, Coach, Jason, all of them slowly realizing what this means. Touchdown! Touchdown! Everybody's kissing and hugging and jumping up and down. Matt tackles Julie in a huge bear hug and they fall to the ground. Then I die. Jason continues wheeling away from the rodeo, Coach's sad face slowly turns pleased as Tami walks up to him and gives him a big kiss.
We open on Buddy Garrity in church, stained glass illuminated behind him. He is fully singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Buddy? It's an auto dealership, not cotton fields you work in. Cram it with the spirituals. "Comin' for to carry me home..." He then begins praying, thanking the lord for letting Buckley win. "I know you truly are an all-powerful God to let such a crap team win." This guy...is just such an evil genius. He continues, getting slightly caught up in the "why pray if God already knows everything" conundrum that keeps many an eight-year-old up at night: "I have to ask for one more thing. And I know you know what it is before I even ask for it. The playoffs. State. If it's your will to let us win state, dear God."
Meanwhile, we've cut over to Coach locking up some equipment at the football field. He turns to see Jason on the field and so walks over. Jason is the bigger man, and opens the dialogue: "I just want you to know, whatever happens with this whole lawsuit thing, I just want you to know, it was out of my hands. That I was against it. And that you'll always be my coach." Coach's hair is like, "Man." Jason reaches out his hand and Coach takes it, silently.
At the car dealership, Matt walks out onto the lot to talk to his dad. He tells his father that he knows he hates working there. Henry says he'll get used to it. Matt says that he doesn't think he needs to, that he thinks he can keep taking care of Grandma so Henry can go back to Iraq. Matt says that Grandma has been doing well lately. Perhaps an effect of having more stability at home with two people around to help? Matt tells his father that it means a lot that he wanted to be home. Henry puts up a weak defense, saying that he's not sure he can agree to Matt's plan. Why? Because it's totally the wrong thing for your son? Is that why? Matt keeps at him, though, and Henry seems to give up. Henry says he isn't much of a car salesman, and Matt reminds him that he's a really good soldier. Okay, so is this how the military works? You can just leave whenever (leaving so finally that you need to find another job while you're home?) and then go back whenever? Somehow, I think we are suspending our disbelief here.
Tyra is in her room packing up some things. Her mom asks her daughter what she's doing and Tyra snaps, "I told you, it was him or me. I wasn't kidding." Her mom surprises us all when she clarifies, "Tyra, you really think I would choose a man over my daughter?" Tyra stops her packing and looks at her mom with tears in her eyes. The two hug, her mom smiling and looking less Valiumed than she has yet.
Waverly is foolin' with that damn trumpet again. She is dressed in a tunic-over-turtleneck combination that's a little too of-the-moment for Dillon, I'd say. Smash comes up and apologizes for lying. Waverly is pretty reticent. Smash continues: "Yeah, I like myself. And I love football. I love it. I love the game. I love the crowds. I love the attention. I love being the star. I can't help it. It's a beautiful thing. It's how God made me." Waverly seems to be melting a tiny bit. Smash continues, Iron and Wine starts drumming in the background, he tells her that he really likes her but that she needs to like him for who he is, "I can't be nobody but The Smash." Pause. "Yes, I like talking about myself in the third person. Something tells me deep down inside you like it, too." Waverly tells him she'll see him around. Smash seems to realize that this isn't a final goodbye, so he turns and leaves. After he's gone, Waverly goes to watch him cross the parking lot, a sweet smile on her face, as Panther Football Radio choruses: "Sometimes the problem is that what's gonna happen just isn't up to you. But then, fate takes a turn around the backyard, and suddenly it is all up to you. Brace yourself, Dillon. We're going into a hell of a game." And the only question I have is: if the world can make shows this good, why does According to Jim exist?