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It's morning, two days 'til the state semifinal and everyone's doin' how they do. For example, Riggins is doin' the hot older neighbor lady. Tami works on softening Julie's moving woes while Street tough-talks Saracen into better quarterbacking. Well "tough"-talks him, since it mainly involves him talking a lot about Oprah. And Coach is back to true form: sporting beleaguered hair.
When POW! BANG! CRASH! YOWZA! a train derails and wrecks our beautiful idyll, spilling toxic waste all over the place.
Dillon Panther home turf is declared Chernobyl, and Coach refuses to settle for the fancy digs suggested by both Buddy and the rival team, going sort of wild-eyed Kevin Costner on us. Buddy has been planting greasy C-notes in Matt Saracen's locker, and Coach reacts against this slick style by getting primal, building a football field out in a manure-caked cow pasture.
And when you build it, they do come. Mainly, it seems, because if you do not come to the football game, you get sexually assaulted. Or at least Tyra does when Landry's car trouble keeps him from meeting her at a fast food place to tutor her in algebra. But if that's one of the town's dirty secrets, so is the fantastic football game where we find Coach raging that this is "Our mud! Our dirt!" after a torrential downpour breaks out. The boys slip and slide, but Street's coaching keeps Matt surefooted, and he runs for a final touchdown, sending the boys on to state.
Also, some stuff about Lyla and Waverly. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We open with softly strumming guitars and soft morning light; apparently this episode is taking place in our collective unconscious because....we look at Neighbor Lady looking at Taylor Kitsch and "the gaze" all us feminists like talking about never felt so hot. He's asleep in her bed, she's standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee and Danielle Steel sex hair, and as he rouses they share a little smile.
Coach drives himself along a highway. Tami and Julie are at home, getting ready to leave the house for the day. Julie wants to know the probability of their possible move to Austin, and Tami, while sympathizing with her worried daughter, can only tell her to wait and see what happens. Back to Coach in the Taylor SUV, driving by a yard where he sees Street coaching a sweaty Matt Saracen. Matt, breathing heavily, says he's about to throw up, and Street snarks that if that's the case, he'll just go home and watch Oprah. When Matt protests, Street demands to know what's wrong with Oprah. Matt mutters in response. Coach stops his truck to watch the boys. Street rattles off some statistics about the team the Panthers will be playing in the semifinals: they're bigger and faster and are gonna feed Matt chili and turf if he doesn't whip himself into shape. Matt pulls himself up and gets back to practicing. I guess I wouldn't want to eat chili and turf, either.
Panther Football Radio informs us that though we thought Voodoo was headed back to Louisiana after we last saw him, he in fact got recruited by another Texas team -- the VERY TEAM the winner of the impending semifinal game will go on to meet at State. Coach looks annoyed as he pulls up near the Dillon stadium, which is mobbed by folks setting up concession stands and t-shirt shops, and Buddy Garrity overseeng the application of a big, gaudy advertisement for his car dealership on the side of some concrete. I already love this spirit of the season crap. Buddy Garrity as Snoopy. Coach Taylor, our Linus.
Inside the locker room, Matt reaches in his and finds an envelope stuffed with fifties. He looks around, panicked. Coach walks through and into his office where Mac, noshing on snacks with feet propped up, directs his attention to the TV where the coach of their opponents blathers on. Coach snaps the TV off and then snaps Mac off, barking about whether Mac thinks the office is his living room with the snacks, et cetera. Buddy walks in -- apparently having just visited Lureen over at the Cut and Curl, seriously his bouffant is getting huge -- and is all smiles and "isn't this great?!" Coach snarls that it's like they're playing the Super Bowl, and then he tries to remark sarcastically on Buddy's advertisement, but the sarcasm goes undetected, probably partly because Buddy's ears might be clogged by Aqua Net. Hey, speaking of Aqua Net, where's Lady Mayor been lately?
Matt comes rushing toward the door, sees Buddy, and tries to turn around, but Coach likes using Matt as his Get Out of Buddy Free card, tells Matt to stay and Buddy to scram. Matt hesitates and then reveals his envelope of cash to Coach, who looks at it quizzically and asks where he got it. Matt replies that it was just, just in his lock-- POW!!! when the windows of Coach's office blow in and car alarms outside are set off. Coach rushes outside to see what the hell it was, as everyone in the school is doing, and we cut out there to see a plume of black smoke off in the distance and cut to our uninspiring credits.
Morning in the Street household. Mrs. Street is blathering about her skepticism about the upcoming settlement meeting. Jason thinks it's possible they may make a satisfactory offer, but Lady MacStreet doubts it. She will go and listen to the offer, though. Jason wheels himself away from the breakfast table toward the television where there is live coverage of the major train derailment that gave us our POW! just before. The television graphics tell us that this is a "possible toxic hazard" and Jason's dad exposits that it's derailed near the school.
Over at the school, everyone is milling about outside while, presumably, the principal informs all via bullhorn that they're getting evacuated for the day. The kids -- all their priorities in order -- cheer. Principal reminds them not to go near "the northeast sector" near the football field, as no one knows how dangerous it is over there. Coach walks right over to where his players have gathered and informs them that they will be having practice that afternoon, toxic waste or no toxic waste. Frankly, all these boys' innards are probably pickled enough to resist whatever Dow Chemicals throws at 'em here.
Cut over to Julie leaving Tyra's side for a second to attack Matt with a big hug. He asks what it's for, and she replies that it's because she loves him. Landry bypasses Cute Overload and heads straight for Leg Overload. Tyra, as she does, says, "Um, I'm gonna go?" the minute Landry talks to her. And she does. Landry asks Julie where Tyra is going, and the former informs him that she's going to the library to study for an algebra exam. Landry sort of shuffles around Julie and Matt, muttering about the library, and then saying he'll see them later. Matt, grinning, wonders where Landry's going. Landry just grins and shuffles and mutters some more.
This parking lot is clearly the parking lot of setting a lot of stuff up for the episode, because across the way, Smash is seemingly apologizing to Waverly for "freaking out" a little bit. What freak-out he refers to, we do not know. She's defensive saying it's cool that he doesn't want to be with a crazy person. Smash says he wants to try to make things work, but he gets called over to the football clot and follows that call.
Luckily, Waverly need only turn slightly to her right to find Lyla there, a girl we have never seen Waverly talk to once. So we shouldn't be all that surprised when Waverly, voice cracking a bit, gets emotional with Lyla about her lot as Football Player GF. Lyla -- who usually approaches her interactions with other women like she's Valerie Plame and they're all Karl Rove, i.e., with due suspicion -- decides at this moment to open up and tell Waverly that, well, her boyfriend went to Austin, got a tattoo from a girl but swears nothing happened when clearly something did. Waverly wonders how she knows something happened, and Lyla points out the obvious: "He got a tattoo!" She then adds that she knows something is up because she's called him four times and he hasn't called her back. Waverly can't believe it. What, you ask? "That you called anyone four times, I mean look at you!" Lyla always has responded to sweet talking, and so she asks Waverly what she should do, and Waverly gets that scary Robert Hayden face on and...
...we cut to the girls in some desolate field shooting guns. See, now, these two getting thrown together simply because they were standing to one another in the TOXIC ALERT parking lot is just pretty dumb. But these two shooting guns together out in the woods? Pretty awesome. Way to keep your eyes on the ends and not the means, writers! So they shoot guns. It's hott.
Over in the library -- which hasn't been evacuated? -- Landry "accidentally" walks past Tyra and acts surprised to see her. Tyra tells Landry she's just wishing for a time machine so she can go back in time and shoot whoever invented algebra. Heh. Landry tells her that that's a Catch-22, as to build a time machine she'd probably need to use algebra. To kill the inventor of algebra. Landry is gesturing with one hand, in which resides some light reading he just picked up. The book is Our Bodies, Ourselves and I just died a thousand deaths over this fact, but not the kind of little deaths Our Bodies, Ourselves would probably illustrate in excessive, 1970s vaginal detail. Tyra sees where this is going, so she tells Landry she already has a tutor. But she doesn't see where Landry's charm is going, or how it is going, and that is FULL STEAM AHEAD. Landry asks her if her tutor a) taught Tim Riggins to read in a day and a half b) is at the top of his honors calculus class, or c) scored a 77 on the math section of his PSAT. Tyra hesitates, but Landry tells her she needs the A-Team and she's got Mr. T standing right in front of her and "'T' stands for...uh...Tyra's...algebra...tutor!" Tyra laughs, thoroughly charmed, and finally acquiesces. I just can't wait for the episode when she has to drug Landry to get him onto a plane. Also, Landry? Do not hesitate to start ringing big, gold bling around your neck.
Neighbor Lady rushes around at work, saying she's got to go and get Bo, that he's probably the last one there, again. She does not wonder if Little Sandy Duncan is strung up by those schoolyard bullies like Peter Pan hoisted above a stage. She comes around the customer counter -- she apparently works in a bank -- just in time to see Little Sandy barrel in. He declares that Tim Riggins picked him up. She tells him to go in back where there's cookies and then stands up and does the flirty bottom-lip-bite, lean-in pose toward Tim while telling him that he shouldn't come to the bank. He wonders why, and she tries to say "because it's a small town" but gets interrupted by some dude who comes in and starts man-talking to Riggins about bucklin' up chin straps cuz the other team is bringin' the wood. Tim, apparently, understands this man language and practically gives this dude the finger guns and then turns to this poor, poor woman -- and if anyone thinks she's taking advantage of him, I point you to exhibit A: Tim Riggins' mischievous smile, Your Honor, I rest -- and asks what she wants for dinner. She's tongue-tied, as well as probably having those panties in a twist -- and he says that he knows Bo likes pizza, so he may as well pick some of that up.
The Panthers are practicing, it seems, at a little league field. Some kids are running amuck around them as they stretch and get ready for practice, and The Galoot complains that "this is ridiculous, we're the Dillon Panthers." Coach calls them into a meeting and tells them that they've all gotten a little too big for their britches, that they think they're hot stuff but they aren't, and then awkwardly segues by saying "You know what I'm talking about." I absolutely did not, at first, but he explains -- while driving that damn murderous bus from Top Chef under which so many of our finest have been thrown -- "Matt Saracen found two hundred dollars in his locker." He demands to know who else has received that kind of money but the whole rest of the team is tight lipped. Coach continues demanding, but they keep stonewalling, until Coach gives up, snarking at this news that no one else has received money: "That must drive you crazy, Smash" and then sends them out to practice.
Buddy has materialized at the field and calls Coach over. Hey, now! Looks like he ran into an old friend over at Sally's Beauty Supply! It's Lady Mayor. She informs Coach that the EPA is keeping the school closed while they investigate the toxic fumes from the accident, and that it's going to be at least a week until they are finished. Coach isn't quite getting it, so Lady Mayor does the charitable, Mama Bird thing and chews up his scenery for him: "There's no way you're gonna have a home game this Friday."
Coach gets a tour of a huge, sparkling stadium, which apparently seats 12,000, has six-month old turf (but does it also have chili?), and a state-of-the-art press box. But Coach will pass. He says that a deal was signed and Dillon gets a home game; this stadium is twenty miles closer to Brantley. The Brantley coach says Eric is just splitting hairs. As they argue, a fly -- a real life one -- lands on the Brantley coach's neck and starts crawling around. Kyle Chandler, without breaking character, reaches out and flicks it away, the Brantley coach says thank you, and Kyle improvises a "your welcome" before continuing on to complain about what kind of connections Brantley's got in this stadium -- does the coach's brother run the clock, for example? We cut to a shot from inside the tunnel looking out onto the field. Eric walks into the darkness while Brantley and Buddy both try to convince him to accept this deal. But Coach Taylor, our Linus most certainly, just says "not here, gentlemen, not gonna be here."
Riding home with Buddy, the bouffanted one complains to Coach that the spiffy stadium would have been perfect for seating the VIPs, sponsors, et cetera. Coach suggests that Buddy buy his own field and then call the game The Garrity Bowl. Buddy chuckles and wonders if, in fact, naming rights are available. Coach, a stonefaced stone fox, tells Buddy that his players have been receiving cash gifts. Buddy just says "huh" and plays dumb.
Waverly and Lyla are hanging out at the burger joint. Smash sits off to the side and leers at Waverly as she gets up to leave. She doesn't seem to see him or something and sort of weirdly stumbles out of the joint. Smash gets up to go talk to Lyla. He wonders when she and Waverly got to be such good friends. She wonders back at him how even though she's cheered for him for years they've never even said hello to one another. This small town sure seems big sometimes. Lyla teases Smash that he'd better watch out because Waverly is a good shot. Smash, worried, wonders what she means, and she explains that they went shooting, proud of how Grindhouse she thinks they are. But Smash quickly tells her that "that's not a good idea." When Lyla protests that Smash isn't Waverly's father, Smash blurts "She's bi-polar" and then says she's off her meds. Lyla, quietly, "I didn't know" and Smash sinks into the booth across from her.
Out along some rural road, Coach stands crankily to Buddy's SUV while the latter relieves himself against a tree. Coach is still demanding to know about the cash gifts, Buddy is still not answering. A tactic that he will come to regret, because in an attempt to change the subject away from cash gifts, Buddy asks Coach what his Plan B is for where they're going to play Friday's game. Coach sort of looks around and then realizes he's gazing at a wide open field, in front of which is posted a small sign saying "For Lease." Coach Taylor shakes his head, starts to laugh to himself, and then says to Buddy, "C'mon, let's go get a beer." It's the spirit of the season, folks! You just watch and see that little tree grow magnificent!
Landry is helping Tyra with algebra. They banter as she works on a square root problem. I would make fun of the fact that a senior in high school is doing square roots, but I am getting rather senior in LIFE and I don't know shit about square roots any more. Though I do know a lot about poststructuralism, go figure. Tyra sarcastically suggests that if Landry loves math so much he should start a math club. Landry says he already did but nobody showed up for his club. Awwww. He teases her that her bitterness is not helping them much, even though he's glad she's talking to him at all, he thinks they should concentrate and solve for x. She looks up and says, brightly "X is 49!" He sinks in his chair, looking disappointed for a second before breaking into a smile and saying "You got it right!" She chucks her pencil at him and tells him not to tease her like that. Somehow these two are, like, launching past Cute!Overload and into Death By Cuteness zone. Tyra smiles and says "Hey, if you're not doing anything this Friday-- " and Landry interrupts and says "Yes!" before she finishes, saying "maybe we could study some?" and Landry echoes, "Yes, study." When Tyra says "Great, it's a date" the camera zooms on Landry's face, which is just priceless in its utter inability to believe! A! Date! With! Tyra! Collette!
Coach runs into his house and tells Tami to get up and come with him. We cut to The Field of Dreams, where Tami stands, as if she has raided my closet, in grey yoga pants and black Chuck Taylors. She's playing devil's advocate, wondering where people would park, where the lights would go, where they'd pee. For every question, Coach has no answers. For every question, the cow standing immediately behind Connie Britton has nothing but dumb blinking. Coach tells his wife that the cows agree with him that it's a good idea, and -- as if the cows were in on this whole Friday Night Lights innovation through improvisation thing, Jason Katims I APPLAUD YOU -- a cow moos and moves toward Britton. She laughs and sort of skips away. Eric dejectedly tells his wife that his players are receiving money, that the whole town is money hungry. He asks her to close her eyes. She does and he places his hands on either side of her face, asking her to imagine she's ten years old, "just playing. I just want to play football." She smiles and says she knows, and now we know that it is on. As Eric walks off saying he's going to get some blankets, she cries out "Buddy Garrity's head's gonna explode! I LOVE IT!" saving me from having to exclaim the same exact thing. Connie Britton, call me. We clearly need to have a beer.
Hardware store. Coach walks in with a group of players and instructs them to get: twenty cans of orange spray paint, twenty bags of chalk, all the dirt they can find, spades, and 2 or 3 metal rakes. Wow, it's pretty easy to build a football field it seems! Where's the balsa wood, though? Matt wonders what they are doing there, and Coach tells them they're gonna build a football field. Smash groans but Tim smiles and tells him to "just embrace the suck for once."
Coach spies Jason over by the WD-40, which, uh, okay. Coach offers to help but Jason uses one of those telescoping grabber things to grab a can. Coach asks what's been up, and he responds "not much." And I actually do have to go back to look up when the last time they talked was, which was it really here? I might be missing another conversation, but still it was a long time ago. Coach exposits that he'll see Jason later that night at the settlement hearing. Jason is all hunched over and abject-seeming and sort of mutters that he isn't looking forward to it. Coach says he actually is, if it will put an end to the law suit that has proceeded in this show as most law suits do -- lots of boring talking about it, not much juicy drama. On the other side of the store, the boys are, like, knocking rakes over and Coach leaves to go supervise.
Lyla knocks on a door until she gets a dull "Yeah" from inside. Jason is lying on the couch watching TV. He asks and she gets him a glass of water. She wonders why he hasn't called, and he says he's been busy. She says it doesn't look like he's busy and starts in on him, but Jason just seriously explodes. He screams about how overwhelmed he is, he's got a cheating girlfriend, parents splitting up, a stupid lawsuit, he lost quad rugby, and on and on until he finishes with, "And this cup is way too full, you know I'll spill it." At first I thought this was metaphorical, but he is actually referring to the cup of water she got him, which she promptly grabs and throws on his face, which frankly, is an awesome way to make the metaphorical literal. Lyla then takes her time screaming about how hard it is for her to help him in and out of the chair. He yell-asks why she does it then, and she pretty much trumps him here, "Because I love you, stupid, but now you're sitting here feeling sorry for yourself and acting like a jerk. You want to play rugby? Find another team. You hate this lawsuit so much? Find a way to make it go away. time you want a glass of water? Say please." Wow. She grabs her coat and storms out, leaving Jason to pretty much feel like an ass.
Toyota Tundra! Buddy wants us to look at one. Meanwhile, Coach is digging like a madman while the field around him is under construction. Buddy is demanding to know what this is all about. Coach tells him that it's just about playing football "minus the crap." Buddy asks if Coach is just trying to make a statement, and Coach agrees that, yes, he is making a statement. Buddy lectures Eric, saying that the semifinals is not the time to make a statement, that if Taylor is just interested in making history, if he doesn't care about Dillon because he's seemingly headed to TMU, Buddy doesn't like any of that one bit. Taylor just fixes him with the eyes of Shut up, Buddy.
Landry wants to know why Matt is snickering, that "she said 'date'." Matt reminds his friend -- who is in the barber's chair getting spiffed up -- that "it's a date" is an expression, "it's a colloq-i-al-ism." That ten-dollar word comes rolling off of Matt's tongue like a large block of concrete. The old man barber asks Landry what this girl's name is. And, since we've confirmed that my lovely, fictional Bess, she of the famously long legs, was indeed a real Texan woman who really worked at the jewelry store, let's wonder what long road this barber traveled down to find himself playing himself in a beautifully shot and written television show. I'm thinking it probably has something to do with Memphis, and with some years spent doing bad, those years the only way he could know how to really do right. There was probably also a steel guitar involved, and lots of cigarettes, and his name would most likely be Gil.
Landry tells Matt that he's ready to stop being a supporting actor, that he wants to break out as a leading man. He tells Matt that this is going to be a big night for them, so Matt might as well accept it. Matt deadpans that it'll be a huge night, that maybe they'll square some numbers and solve a quadratic equation. Landry snarks back at his friend, but then turns serious and tells Matt that he's going to "declare [him]self to her." Matt looks kind of concerned, like he knows this isn't going to turn out like Landry wants. Landry closes out the scene by instructing the barber -- "Carl" in the show -- "not too tight. I don't want to look all frayed for my lady." I don't know exactly what he's talking about, but it seems he's trying to avoid the High and Tight, so whatever it is, I'm all for it.
Lyla drives Waverly, and they are in mid-gossip about boys. Lyla pauses and then takes a breath and then out of the blue just informs Waverly that that Mrs. Taylor is a great person to talk to. Waverly knows what's up and asks, "Did Smash talk to you?"
Drive-by shot of "Fran's Hamburgers," which we can now finally establish is the joint that isn't the Alamo Freeze or Applebees. Smash is inside eating with some friends. Waverly knocks on the window to his booth. He gets up and goes to her. She cries in disbelief "You told Lyla Garrity that I'm bi-polar?!" Smash erupts, saying that he loves her but that he can't handle all this on his own. That she's not taking her meds and she's doing things to endanger herself and everyone around her. He says he'd do anything for her, but keeping all this to himself is unfair, too much for him to handle. He suggests that she talk to someone but she says that she can't talk to her dad. Smash suggests his mother. "She's a nurse. She knows you. She can help." Waverly doesn't really respond, and Smash, voice cracking, says "Baby, I don't think you're okay. And you can stay mad at me, but it's not going to change my mind." Pause. "About anything I just said." Presumably referring also to his loving her. Waverly walks past him, dissolving into helpless sobs. He walks behind her and hugs her.
At the Playgirl Ranch, Billy asks Tim where he's going. Tim says "To Jackie's." Billy sarcastically wonders if the kid is calling Tim "Daddy" yet. Tim swears that Little Sandy Duncan doesn't know anything yet. Billy, dispensing advice in the only way he can: "Look, I may not have a PhD in Stupid like you do, but this is gonna turn out badly. And hell, it's probably going to turn out badly right around State." Looks like Billy's been in the room during storyboarding.
At the settlement hearing, some legal blah blah blah, some simpering Street parents blah blah blah. Basically, all the legal staff is arguing about how much they'll win when they put Jason on the stand. Jason finally stands up -- uh, metaphorically, ya know -- and says that he isn't some brain-dead idiot who'll never be able to make a living of his own. He yells at his parents that they aren't there to win the lottery and then suggests that he'll just write down a number that he wants. Which he does and then shows to his mother, whispering "takes care of the debt, right? Saves the house?" God, if you had asked me how much money it would take to save my parents' house from foreclosure when I was in high school I probably would have answered "Twenty unicorns and a pot of candy?" Mrs. Street nods, and the number doesn't even get vetted by the Street's counsel or Mr. Street, but just gets handed over to the school's lawyers who say they can live with it. You know who else can live with it? Viewers who don't care to see the inside of a courtroom again anytime soon. Coach stands up, speechless, and just finger guns Jason, who nods in acknowledgment that he's only, like, of a higher ethical order or something.
Out at The Field of Dreams, the media circles around while the rival coach whines that he's not going to play on this field. Some sort of independent commissioner is there to read off the requirements for play, which basically are that the field needs to be rectangular. Coach declares that this field is regulation. The Brantley coach continues to complain -- he says he thinking about his fans. Coach is very media-savvy as he first intimates that if it's money the other guy is worried about, the game is sold out, he already made his money. When the other guy backpedals and says it isn't the money but instead the ramshackle quality of the affair, Coach again puts words in his mouth and says that, oh, he sees, the other guy is worried about playing without all the bells and whistles, that he's afraid to come down there and "get your kiesters beat." Coach continues and asks, with his eyes flitting toward the cameras snapping his picture and the folks jotting down his words, "It's a football game. Whaddya need to play football but a field, 22 kids, and a pigskin?" Good lord, Coach Eric Taylor for President! This guy could sell an unjust war to an unsuspecting public no problem!
Er, ba dum dum? But Coach Taylor's reverse psychology works as the rival coach says that his team could beat Taylor's in an ice skating rink wearing nothing but socks. I sort of hope those socks would notbe on their feet, if you know what I mean. The rival coach is on a roll as he tells Coach that if he wants to play on this jenky field, well then "Butch up, Sally, you got a game." Handshake. End scene.
Montage time! Set to The Killers' "Read My Mind." The American flag. Final touches being put on the field. Banners, Cheerleaders practicing. Concessions. Smiling folks. Strange adolescent handshakes. And those Friday Night Lights. A local TV personality narrates to the camera that "not since the days of the leather helmet" have we seen the likes of this gathering, and that it all reminds him a little of Woodstock. He wonders if Jimi Hendrix might be on hand to play the national anthem. I like that little juxtaposition of that moment full of potential in the sixties, all that civic interestedness that got lost in subsequent decades, with this town and this game. Shots of all the characters we know, as well as lots of extras we don't, smiling and clearly totally excited at this unusual turn of events.
Cut over to a seriously weathered old farmer telling Tami that he paid for a fifty-yard-line seat. Tami just waves her arms and tells him to sit wherever he wants, "it's just a big wide-open space out there." God, this is some seriously American-style optimism. And, as cynical as I usually am, I am still a sucker for the idea of these big, wide open spaces. "And that is what football is all about, Charlie Brown."
Smash talks trash on the field, and the music transitions to some more chaotic percussives as we head to the coin toss and then straight into the game. Panthers fumble immediately and the Vikings run for a touchdown. Coach looks concerned, and the Vikings go for two, so the Panthers are down 8-nothing. The sky rumbles and then starts to open up as Panther Football Radio announces that "Coach Taylor's Field of Dreams may have just become a nightmare."
Cut over to Landry getting in his car and finding it won't start. His distress is more serious and less snarky then we've come to expect from him...setting my teeth a little on edge. Cut over to Tyra running through the rain into a fast food joint. The minute she comes in, one of two other men in there asks why she isn't at the game and she, friendly, says she has an algebra test coming up, "semifinal or no semifinal, you know what I'm saying?"
Back on the field, it's a torrential mess. Or, as Panther Football Radio declares, "a real Texas toe strangler." Saracen hands the ball to Riggins who drops it. There's a mad scramble for the ball, which just slithers along on the mud as the boys dive for it. Luckily it goes out of bounds, but the Vikings almost got it. Another snap, Matt slips and slides as he heads back. He throws and it gets intercepted. Jason Street is on the sidelines, and as the offense runs in and Coach screams at Matt ("What the hell you doin'?!"), Jason gives Matt a fist bump and then some constructive advice, reminding him to get off his heels to stop throwing short. Coach looks on Jason with approval.
Offense again. Matt hands off to Tim, who runs the ball well, almost breaking away but taking a hard fall in the mud. The crowd is pleased with the advance, and the announcers declare, "We have got a mud bowl here tonight!" It's almost halftime, another snap and Matt throws big to Smash who runs down the impossibly muddy field for a touchdown. Panthers go for two....and they get it, so it's tied going into the half.
But as the whistle blows, the referee calls the coaches and captains into a huddle where he declares that he thinks the game should be called. The announcers voice over about what a shame it would be to call the match, as "this is a home field in the truest sense of the word. This field was hand built by Coach Taylor and these players." As both coaches are silent on the matter, Matt jumps in and says that they want to play. His sentiments are echoed by the boys on the other team, and so that's what's gonna happen. Uh, okay. Hell if I'm going to complain if it seems rather convenient that the semifinals will take place in such dramatic circumstances. Somebody on that field, the referee and announcer say, is going to State.
Tyra looks around wondering where Landry is. She starts to pack up her things, and creepy hamburger dude tells her to drive safe in the rain as she gets ready to leave.
On the field, the Vikings are set up for a field goal, but their kicker goes down in the mud. Coach Taylor smiles, but then seemingly takes his smile back because he realizes that the rain has pretty well evened the playing field as far as dumb mistakes go.
Tyra runs to her truck, and we see Creepy Hamburger Guy run after her, calling out that she left her notebook. As she turns slightly toward him, he hauls off and punches her, grabs her around her middle, forces her toward the passenger seat of his truck, opens the door and pushes her in. He's on top of her, she's struggling, the creepy percussive music gets more insistent. He's slapping her and fumbling with her clothes, and it is all completely horrible and terrible, perverted masculinity, a take-what-you-want-and-be-a-man-about-it nightmare.
On the field, Coach has his players gathered around him as he gives a rousing speech, telling his boys to take what they want, and the juxtaposition is so totally spot on. Not that Coach is turning boys into rapists -- he is trying as best he can to turn these kids into good, hardworking people -- but simply that there is frighteningly little distance between this football field and that parking lot. Coach tells his boys that everything they worked for all year is theirs for the taking right then. "This is our dirt, this is our mud, this is ours baby! Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!!!"
Back in the truck, Tyra has reached for and pushed in the cigarette lighter. She pops it out and jams it right into this fucker's eye. He screams, and she wriggles away, sliding out through the driver's side door. He comes after her, but she slams the door on his arm a few times and runs back toward the restaurant. She is screaming and sobbing and overwhelmed for a second in mid-run. The shithead limps off like a damned weasel into the night.
On the field, Jason tells Matt to not let the other team breathe and sends him back on the field. Matt throws to Smash on a skinny post and Smash runs -- or slips and slides for a while -- before getting tackled. For some reason, the announcers declare that "the clock is winding down on the Panther season" and I guess maybe they previously were going to have the Panthers down by one or two, having only gotten an extra point or gotten blocked while going for two. In any case, we have to stop nitpicking for any of this to have the drama it is intended to have.
Tyra is in the middle of the parking lot in the pouring rain, shaking hands reaching to pick up the papers she's dropped. A car pulls up and Landry gets out all apologies before realizing that it isn't right that she's standing out in the rain. She sort of falls right onto him, crying, "He tried to rape me." Landry at first asks who, but then goes quiet and just hugs her. He is so obviously such a good kid.
Nineteen seconds on the clock. Matt seems to be setting up for some sort of spike-y thing that will stop the clock (see, I only sort of know what they're talking about, but I'm getting through all this football talk, right?). The announcers declare that Matt is showing a lot of poise in the clutch. Jason screams "Gooooo!" from the sidelines, obviously fulfilled in a way he hasn't been in a long time. Snap. But Matt doesn't spike the ball, he effing runs with it!!!! Riggins gives him a huge block, and the motherfucking kid runs through the mud, and slippery rain, and he runs and runs for a touchdown. Hooray!!!! Seriously, as dorky as it sounds, the first time I watched this, I jumped off the couch and shouted "Hooray!"
Coach sort of jerks around on the sidelines like he's getting electrocuted, and everybody goes crazy as the sound of them going crazy fades and everything goes slow motion, and, lord, they make it just beautiful every week.
The rain has stopped, and Smash leads a prayer in thanks to God while we see the boys shake hands with the other team. Smash concludes, and the "amens" are followed with "wooo!"ing and more crazyhappytimes. Julie spots Matt in the crowd and just runs and tackles him into the mud saying, "I'll love you no matter what happens." Corinna and Waverly stand together -- Waverly wearing a smile, but clearly not feeling the joy -- Smash spots them and goes over for hugging and wooing family-style, hugging Waverly and teasing like he's going to push her into the mud. Little Sandy Duncan is at Tim's feet, tiny fist pumping like a crazy man, before asking if Tim is going to sleep over again that night. Tim is taken aback and only says, "I know we're going to state!"
At a closed-up restaurant, Landry sits across from Tyra, who is just mute in shock and anger and sorrow. He gets up and moves around to her side, holding onto her hand. She just sort of collapses onto him, and he whispers that she'll be okay. I hope they got whoever was working in there to jot down a description of Creepy Hamburger Guy before they started mopping the floors. I mean, really!
On the field, kids are running and sliding through the mud, including one kid still fully wearing his tuba. Mac approaches Coach and sets up that they'll be seeing Voodoo in the final. Coach walks over to Jason and says, "Matt Saracen. He was a different quarterback tonight." Jason tries to deflect the praise, just saying that he's a good kid, but Coach won't let him. He pauses and then asks, "You ever think about coaching?" Jason merely looks up at Coach and smiles. And, LISTEN TO ME, Kevin Reilly, if you don't let us see Jason make the transition between thinking about coaching and actually coaching, well...I'm going to be really, really mad. Over here on the internet.