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So, like, I could write this recaplet IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE THIS EPISODE WAS SO GOOD. Or, I could use...a lot...of...ellipses...because...it...has...left me...speechless. Or I could describe my heart literally, physically thumping in my chest and how I leapt from the couch multiple times during the game. Or I might describe how pretty much for an hour I felt like I wanted to puke, my heart was so full. Is that enough for you Peter Berg? Jason Katims? Jeffrey Reiner? EVERYONE ELSE? The critic PUKING FOR JOY?
So, the Dillon Panthers go to State. AND THEY WIN. They fucking WIN STATE. Because they KNEW we were all sitting on our couches, all cynical and "no way are they going to win, that'd be too cheesy. That would be too much for us to watch these characters we know and love receive just reward for all the heart and muscle they've put into this drama. No way they'll win." BUT THEN THEY WON. Because this show flips scripts.
But before we get to that win: the Panthers have their quiet music montage of awe, arriving at the Dallas Cowboys stadium and seeing their accomplishment writ large. But when Coach's decision to take the TMU job goes public during a pre-game interview, the boy's rightful pride in their strength and potential is slightly undercut by doubts in their leader.
Meanwhile, the town is making its way to Dallas. Tim gives his tickets to Jackie and Bo, "no strings attached." Lyla refuses to drive one of her father's cars to the big city, a decision that results in her getting stranded on the side of the road. Landry thinks he's going to get four hours in a car alone with Tyra driving to Dallas for the game, but it turns out he gets four hours of To Wong Foo when he ends up with Tyra, Ole Sis, Angela, Grandma Saracen, and Lyla Garrity in the wagon, and let's be honest, the only person who couldn't play a tranny in that car is Jesse Plemons.
And Tami confirms that she is pregnant, something she might have found exciting but unremarkable ten years ago, but which throws her for a loop now. She tries to tell Eric a few times without success, but when she does tell him, well, I can't tell you exactly how PERFECT his reaction was because I was leaning over the back of the couch PUKING FOR JOY. (And, no, it wasn't the Indian food.) In the end, Coach tells Tami that he will stay in Dillon with his family, but Tami insists that he go to Austin. She admits that she isn't sure how they'll work this situation out, but she's sure that they both need to live out their dreams.
Speaking of dreams, here's one: RENEW THIS SHOW. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
It's our last episode (THIS SEASON) and I've loved every minute I've worked on this show. Including the back aches I get from hunching down in one position because I can't move because I'm up against deadline, including being charged with the difficult and important task of translating what it is that Kyle Chandler's hair is saying, even including the show's one misstep, the angry Latino episode. My day job pretty much involves reading, writing about, and teaching narratives -- how they work, how they make meaning for people and communities -- and I can honestly say that I approach watching this show carefully and writing about it as an extension of that "serious" work I do. Only here I get better hair, a little more hotness, and far more excellent cleavage than I can count on getting from Henry James.
Open on a pep rally, Smash leading a huge crowd in a "Let's go Panthers!" chant. The dance squad is on stage dancing while we cut down to Smash and Matt Saracen talking to the press, full circle from those virtuoso opening scenes of the series where we started establishing characters as they spoke to reporters about the upcoming season. Matt speaks first and quietly says that he has "nothing but respect for Voodoo and that whole team" before Smash jumps in and trash talks that "No, no, no, no, no. We gonna shut Ray Tatum down." (In a tremendously sad turn of events, on the iTunes version of the episode from which I am recapping, the music that the dance squad performs to has changed from that awesome LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" song to some anonymous and terrible Pussycat Dolls kind of song.)
Cut to Lyla winding her way through the crowd, her father trying to catch up to her to talk. She ignores him. Cut to Jason looking toward Lyla as he half-heartedly speaks to the press about how good it feels to be part of the team again. Right about now, on first viewing of the show, I remarked on how I loved this frenetic press interview opening, that it was so "full circle" from the Pilot. Jason then says "It feels like I've come full circle." Call me, Show.
Cut to Tyra walking up to Landry. He says it's good to see her out of the house, and she snarks back, "Thank you, Dr. Freud." She pauses before spitting out that even though going to this game runs against her principles, Tim gave her his extra tickets and made her feel like it was important to him that she go. Landry doesn't miss a beat: "So...you want me to drive you to state?" She mentions that the tickets are on the fifty-yard line, but Landry wouldn't care if the seats were on some bleachers along Harry Hines Boulevard. He stutters, "so, uh, uh, go with you? To Dallas?" before saying -- holding himself like if he moves he'll break into a million totally psyched pieces, "Yeah, sure. Sounds good." Tyra leaves and Landry slowly spins around in a circle, mouth hanging agape.
The dance squad continues to dance to the way inferior non-LCD Soundsystem song and we cut over to Matt and Julie making out behind some sort of structure. Julie is explaining that she's working on her mom to see if she can get guaranteed summers back in Dillon after they move, saying she'll propose staying at Lois's or Tyra's. I love this Lois. Matt, in between kissing her, suggests she try for Lois's first. Coach walks by and catches them in full-on make-out mode, stops and says "Hey." They pull apart, and Matt sort of glares at Coach, who asks the boy if he's all right. Apparently Coach has not brushed up on the Teen Make-Out Rules and Regulations, section 19b of which indicates that anyone currently in mid-make out is officially "all right." He turns to his daughter and asks if she's heard from her mother, as Tami is supposed to be at the rally but isn't.
Cut to Tami driving while apologizing to Coach on her cell phone for not being there yet. She explains that she had to get a press release out (presumably for Lady Mayor's campaign, which we haven't heard much about lately) and that the computer broke. Coach says "Well that's because you press the wrong button on the damn thing all the time!" Heh. Computer "buttons." Nomenclature not unlike how my father-in-law calls his computer "the machine." Tami rushes off the phone and pulls her car into a parking lot.
Cut to Tami walking into a waiting room...full of pregnant ladies! Baby Alert! Alert! Alert! And just in time to erase the bad taste left in my mouth after learning that Brian Bonsall has been caught beating up his girlfriend, too! Tami leans toward the receptionist and asks if she can get a pregnancy test. The lady tells her they are busy and wonders if she can come back Tuesday. Tami starts babbling about how it's just that she's six days late and she's never late, "I'm kinda like a Rolex watch in that way" and how she ate fish tacos on Monday and they disagreed with her a bit and so maybe it's just the tacos rumbling around in there but she just wants to make sure...until finally the receptionist suggests that she try a home pregnancy test. Tami responds with desperation in her eyes that she hasn't been home, she's got to go to Dallas, she just needs to know. And right at this moment, Corinna walks up behind her and puts a hand on Tami's lower back. She looks straight at her and says "I can take care of you." Women! Being supportive! I love it.
Tami sits on a examination table and Corinna walks in with some paperwork. "How pregnant do you want to be? Cuz you extremely pregnant." Tami puts her face in her hands, then looks up and takes a deep breath, "Okay." Her eyes well up. Right about now is when I start to feel like puking, a feeling I will maintain throughout the rest of the episode, it's so good. Corinna narrows her eyes, "Do you want to be pregnant, honey?" Tami stutters in response, "Do I wanna be pregnant? I don't know if I want to be pregnant..." Corinna remembers her training and says she didn't mean to put it that way: "Did you plan this?" Tami responds, with a shaky voice, laughing in spite of crying, "I mean we planned it...like thirteen years ago. And then eleven years ago, and ten years ago. And then we figured, we have our beautiful girl and that's what we have and maybe having another one wasn't in God's plan." Corinna tells her that it looks like God changed his mind. Tami, hand to mouth, her eyes wide and full of tears, nods and tries to absorb it all. And then, thank God it was also in His plan to cut to the credits here because I need to go puke for joy.
Credits. WHICH, FINE, I NOW FIND INSPIRING. ["God, FINALLY!" -- Joe R] Matt complains to Landry that he doesn't understand why Landry can't put Grandma in the back of his car. Meanwhile, Landry slices a chocolate bon-bon and asks Matt to try it. Landry remarks to Matt that the cocoa bean in the chocolate is a known aphrodisiac and points out that he's going to be alone in the car with Tyra for four hours. "I'm going to be playing some sexy Crucifictorius and we're gonna be eatin' on these very fine, delicate, erotic chocolates." At least he's not planning on trying to serve Oysters a la Station Wagon Exhaust. Landry tells Matt that pretty much this "may be the defining moment of my life, so you might have to tell your Grandma to take the damn bus."
Over at the Playgirl Ranch, Tim catches Jackie as she gets out of her car. She immediately tries to get away from him, but he tells her to hold on, that he's not trying to get back in those tight jeans of hers. He tells her that he wants Bo to have his State game tickets. He promises that they are for Bo, no strings attached, no pressure. He says if they don't want to go, she can sell them on eBay to get Bo a "PSP, or whatever he's playing now." He leaves, and in general conducted himself like such a gentleman with Jackie that she pretty much looks like she wants to tackle him and treat him like the dirty whore he just tried to prove he wasn't.
Cut to Julie walking in the Taylor front door. Coach is in the living room zipping up various bags and asks if he can ask her a question before he leaves. "Did you tell Matt Saracen I took the job at TMU?" Julie at first says she didn't. Her father asks if she's sure she didn't tell him, and she crumbles, "Okay, well, I had to!" Please do note that so far, Coach Eric Taylor has been wearing a hat in all of his scenes. As if you can silence the hair, my friend! During this scene, his hat is obviously in a fight to the death with the hair it is trying to contain, as it is beginning to pop a bit off and to the side. Tami comes home and Coach, yelling, informs her that their daughter, "in all her infinite wisdom has informed Matt Saracen I took the job at TMU." Tami sighs "Oh, Jules!" and Julie storms off, muttering that this isn't her problem.
Tami turns to Coach, who sarcastically tells her it's nice to see her today. She apologizes for missing the rally and says she just had a number of things to do that day. Coach snarks that he had a few things to do that day, too, and he tried to talk to her in the morning and afternoon, but now he has to go catch a bus to Dallas. He leaves the frame and Tami, voice raised, calls after him, "Well, honey, I have to talk to you before you leave!" Coach bounces back in the frame, and never has a television screen been so welcoming to a man as mine always is to Kyle Chandler. He gives her his full attention, but she can't tell him under these rushed circumstances. She tells him it can wait and to have a great trip. Coach leaves and we end on a shot of Tami, eyes closed in confusion.
The Dillon Panthers walk onto their bus amidst crowds and crowds of cheering Dillon folks. Coach is in full-on hair and face lockdown -- cap securely on his head, those robot wraparound sunglasses clamped around his face. Tyra grabs Tim as he walks toward the bus, asking him where her tickets are. Erp! Tim tells her that he gave them away and exclaims that she doesn't even like football. Tyra says that's right but it was nice to have someone offer her the good seats for once. She turns to leave but Tim calls her back and holds out four crumpled tickets in his hand. She asks where they are. Tim sheepishly admits, "They're nosebleeds." Tyra grabs the tickets and storms away.
Matt wanders toward the bus when Coach pulls him aside. One can see why he goes into hair/face lockdown sometimes. Dude is intimidating! Even his jacket is zipped up to prevent any neck emoting that might happen. I guess it is hard to be so charismatic; if you're trying to keep things close to the chest, you've got to make sure your neck isn't giving anything away. He aims his robot face at Matt and says that he knows Julie talked to him. Matt says he doesn't want to talk about it, "I'd rather just think about football, sir." Coach, tight-jawed, robot faced, says "Alright" and nods to indicate Matt is free to go.
Landry shows up at the Collette household. In the Crucifictorius t-shirt that IT DOESN'T SEEM TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR A RECAPPER WHO HAS GIVEN HER LIFE AND LOVE TO THIS SHOW MAYBE COULD HAVE ONE OF? Ole Sis answers the door, and Landry greets her, "Hey Mindy, how's the stripping going?" Ole Sis calls behind her, "Mama, let's go, our ride's here!" Ole Sis bangs out the door with a couple of huge bags. Angela follows, telling Landry that she'll probably be riding up front with him since she gets car sick, and then Tyra pulls up the rear telling Landry that she got four tickets instead of two, and she hopes he doesn't mind Ole Sis and Broke Ass Bum Mom Angela tagging along. As she walks out the door she calls behind her that there's more bags inside. Landry, so disappointed, says it's no problem and then goes to lug Angela's bag full of Sally's Cougar Beauty Supplies.
In the Landrymobile, Angela is up front glomming all the chocolates. She's blabbing on and on, saying that she doesn't know what's in the chocolates but she feels "so tingly all over!" Then she continues, announcing that she's hogging them because she's a little pre-menstrual. They come up on the bus station, and Landry spots Grandma Saracen sitting and waiting for the bus. This is the kind of plot contrivance I like to see. No matter that Grandma Saracen could have her pick of rides to Dallas, this episode NEEDED to get Grandma into the Vagina Mobile. Landry calls out through the open passenger window, asking her if she needs a ride. Grandma remarks that it's mighty nice and asks to make sure they've got room. Tyra gets out the car and says "Hey Lorraine!" and Grandma breaks into pure joy: "Oh my Lord, is that Tyra? Oh, ho, ho, did you bring the booze?" Tyra laughs a pure belly laugh that just gets me in the gut.
Cut to the boys in their bus coming up on Texas Stadium. Everything is in slow motion, the instrumental music hitting the Tears! note that we've been conditioned to expect. And the scene unfolds with near perfect pacing. Quick cuts to the boys' and coaches' faces on the bus as they approach the stadium on the road, each face registering different degrees of awe, fear, excitement, nerves. Then cut inside them all walking into the locker room, their small high school team dwarfed in the enormous room, they move around the huge space with boyish joy. All of this sort of gets you just to the point of tears, and the show knows it, lets you pause there for a second, and then twists the knife in a tiny bit further -- the camera ranges up to show us that above his locker, each boy's number and name are written on a blue placard. Then cut to the team walking down the tunnel out to the field, and if you thought they looked small in the locker room, the shot of the team in the middle of this gaping stadium underscores how vulnerable they are.
They gather around Coach, the music fades out as he tells them that tomorrow, this stadium will be filled. He tells the kids that this is what they waited and worked for and then asks if it gets any better than this. They answer in unison, "No, sir" and he tells them they are damn right. They break into applause for their leader and for themselves just as the evil opposing team -- appropriately clad in black and gold -- walk in, Voodoo Tatum leading. Coach quietly tells his boys to "stay inside yourselves. We can beat these guys."
Cut to another round of press interviews. Smash defends Matt Saracen, saying his money is on Matt over Voodoo any day. Cut to Voodoo slithering that "Matt Saracen? Yeah, I know 'im. Honestly, there's not much to him." You apparently did not see Matt Saracen sing his grandmother to sleep, Mister Voodoo! Cut to Matt, stuttering that he doesn't know Voodoo that well. Aw, sweetheart couldn't trash talk a garbage can. Voodoo keeps on, with a sly grin, saying they'll crush Matt like a "flea." Cut to Jason telling the reporters that Voodoo is flashy, that anyone can do flashy but Matt has heart and is creative. Cut back to Voodoo smarming that when Matt is done getting squashed maybe he can sit on the sidelines and watch Voodoo, "maybe learn something." Back to Smash who goodnaturedly says that it's nothing personal but "if you ask me if it's gonna feel good to put Voodoo in his place? You're damn right it is!" He breaks into a wide smile. Smash has developed from that first episode where he was a lot of anger, a lot of flash, and not much back-up.
Cut to Coach, who continues to be in face/hair lockdown. He tells the reporters that it's a big game tomorrow, "a lot of pageantry" -- does this mean there will be a swimsuit portion of the competition? Because you know I never mind putting Taylor Kitsch into any sort of double-sided-tape-needed situation. Coach continues, saying that they want to bring the trophy home to the folks of Dillon. "It's been a tough year, they deserve it." A reporter hops in and drops the bomb, "So how does it feel to be leaving?" Coach, tightjawed, says "Excuse me?" Cut to shots of the boys overhearing the reporter asking whether it is true that Coach accepted a position at TMU season. Coach tries to avoid the question, saying that they're focusing on the game tomorrow, but the reporter presses. He goes very still for a few very long moments before admitting, "Yes, yes that is true" and then walking away from the reporters, but also away from his own team, shot from a low angle, the empty stadium roaring up behind his figure.
Back in Dillon, Buddy is at work, giving a couple the hard sell. Luckily, since it's on camera, not the sort of hard sell he gave Angela. Ba dum bum. He notices Lyla driving up in her cute little red number and excuses himself to go talk to her. He tries to start talking to her, but she just hands him the keys and the title to the car saying she doesn't want the car he gave her anymore. She turns on her heel and leaves as the opening section of a high-school-girl-declaring-independence song ("Walk Over Me" by Dirtie Blonde) starts up. Buddy insists that she needs a car, and she tosses off that she bought a used one "from Crespos." Buddy calls him a "rabid crook" and Lyla turns around and sasses, "I liked him!" BTW, Lyla looks smoking hot in a plunge v-neck white tee and jeans.
Cut to Lyla driving down the road, windows of her beater open, belting out the lyrics to this terrible song. And it wouldn't be right if she were belting out the lyrics to a good song. I can't express to you how much I love this scene and its terrible music and the wind in the hair and the white tee and all that and, yes, it probably has something to do with some primal Alanis Morissette experience I had as a teen. So anyway, Lyla is screaming along when suddenly, her little beater of a car makes a horrible clanging thumping noise.
Cut to the Vagina Mobile, where the ladies are screaming along to "Lady Marmalade." Grandma is BRINGING it to this whole road trip experience, full-on hand-pumping along with hitting some great "Ya! Ya!" moments during the song's chorus. But when it comes time for Xtina's soaring "Creole Lady MarmaLAAAAAAAAAAAAde!" and they all hit it with varying shouting flatness, Landry starts shaking his head and reaches for the volume dial, saying "Okay, okay, I think it's safer if we turn this down." Tyra announces, "Ladies, we just took a detour into the 'No Fun Zone,'" and then Angela announces with ear-assaulting clarity, "Shoot! We're gonna have to stop, I forgot Tampax, does anyone have one?" cuing Grandma to respond with mind-assaulting clarity, "Don't look at me, I had my last hot flash in 1990!" The ladies, as we know, love a good menopause joke, and so this one brings the house down. Grandma, we should note, has chocolate smeared all over her upper lip, and frankly, I'd put Grandma Saracen up against panty-waisted Paris Hilton for Party Girl Crown 2007. Mainly because she not only brings and delivers the menopause joke, but because she then follows it up with some fart commentary: "Wait a minute! Did somebody in here fart?!" This leads me to believe that this woman might change worlds were she allowed to dance on a few tables down in Dallas. ["On the other hand, whoever smelt it clearly dealt it, Grandma Saracen. You ain't foolin' nobody." -- Joe R]
Landry is seemingly keen on putting a screeching halt to his education in how girls are actually NOT all soft skin and long hair but are instead usually major raunch fests. He slows down the car and remarks, "Hey, isn't that Lyla Garrity?" and we cut to a shot of Lyla leaning against her broke-ass car. Tyra can be heard gleefully remarking that she likes the idea of Lyla Garrity, "daughter of the car king" being stranded. Landry starts backing up to go see if she's okay, and Tyra protests. Landry says it wouldn't be Christian to leave her. Meanwhile, Lyla has scurried over toward Landry's car. Tyra brightly says "Hi, cheating cheerleader bitch!" and Lyla turns to leave. Angela, ever the role model, cackles like a crazy woman. Landry insists that Tyra get out to see if Lyla needs a ride. Tyra whinges and moans about it, but when Grandma urges her along, she gets out with door-slamming drama.
Long shot of Tyra and her legs walking toward Lyla and her legs. Lord, these ladies have got some pairs of legs. Tyra yells, "Garrity, get in the damn car!" Lyla says "No, thank you!" and you wonder if she's going to be able to hold her own with Tyra, who is clearly going to be a hair-puller. Lyla screams at Tyra, asking why she hates her so much. Tyra wonders which reason she wants to hear, the one having to do with Lyla's dad sleeping with Tyra's mom and trying to pay her off, or the one having to do with Lyla sleeping with Tyra's boyfriend. Lyla informs Tyra that her parents are getting a divorce, and so she isn't the only one hurt by that, and then reminds Tyra that she'd been flirting with Jason for years. Tyra so has the upper hand in this fight. She shouts that flirting is what she does, "it's what I am. I wasn't gonna DO him." Lyla digs herself in deeper, whining that Tyra and Riggins were broken up when the affair happened. Tyra lowers her eyes at Lyla's little-girl-whining: "Are you kidding me? You know I heard that you and Jason Street were having problems, maybe I should go sleep with him?"
Lyla pauses and then spits an "I'm sorry" at Tyra. Tyra says it's not accepted, and then Lyla spits some more, "You know what? You're a bitch!" Tyra's like, yeah, bring it, so what? Then, her voice a bit thick, she tells Lyla she IS a bitch but says she doesn't accept the apology because it's clear Lyla doesn't mean it. Tyra tells Lyla she doesn't have any idea how it felt, and Lyla quietly assures Tyra she knows exactly how it feels. Tyra pauses: "Wait. Jason got with somebody else?" That, it seems, is all it takes to get Lyla to join the Vagina Mobile.
Julie is giving her mom a hard time in their car, insisting that she wants a commitment that she can spend at least four weeks in Dillon every summer. Tami tells her that she can't talk about this right now, but when Julie persists, Tami erupts, shouting that the move isn't happening for six months, that they have no idea what they'll be doing in six months (having a baby) or where they'll be in six months (having a baby). She shouts "Just stop badgering me!" Julie quietly says her mother didn't have to yell about it, and then Tami apologizes.
Pre-game dinner. Everyone seems pretty sedated. Buddy comes over to the coach's table and asks to speak to Eric alone for a second. They go over by the window -- and in Hair Watch: Season Finale, Coach has at last ventured to let his hair out of its cage, but we still have not gotten a clear look at it, as it always seems to be pushed out of the frame somehow or other -- and Coach launches into self-defense mode. He tells Buddy that he took the job at Dillon thinking he'd be there for five years, but reminding Buddy that he never got the same kind of assurance from the boosters. He reminds Buddy that he pretty much felt like he might be out of a job when they lost that second game of the season and so defends his choice to put his career in front of Dillon Panther Football. Buddy pauses, and then says he just came by to tell him how much he's going to miss him: "You're a fine football coach."
Cut to Buddy introducing Eric to the podium at dinner. "The man, who has taken this team to state this year, his first year as the coach of the Dillon Panthers, my friend, Eric Taylor." Eric stands before the microphone -- his hair unleashed, rearing up like a stallion on his head, and yet somehow also quite skeptical -- a skeptical mustang? -- and tells everyone that he's going to cut the crap. He starts talking about dreams, about how he knows the boys have dreams, and about how he has long had a dream to coach a Division One football team. He says he knows that they must all be mad, and he says they have a right to feel that way. He declares that he doesn't like the press, "never have," and that this information should have come out differently: "I apologize it wadn't." And then he sits down. Well. Okay then. Buddy leads the slow-to-realize applause while Matt Saracen walks out of the room and the rest of the players look around in confusion, all to the forced chant -- led by Buddy -- of "Panthers! Panthers! Panthers!"
In the hotel lobby, the players sit around watching press coverage of the "shocking news" that Taylor is leaving Dillon. Tim declares that it's pretty pathetic and The Galoot agrees. But Jason jumps in and tells them to quite whining, that any one of them would accept any offer TMU gave them. Smash agrees and tells his teammates that Coach earned this new job, and that now "it's up to us." Tim calls attention to Voodoo and Crew rolling through the lobby. It's kind of difficult to look tough while walking amidst hotel ficuses and mauve marble. Voodoo sways up to Smash and asks to talk to him. The two go off to the side and basically Voodoo tells Smash that he's not there to trash-talk, but instead to propose that, year, Smash come play for West Cambria along with Voodoo. Tatum tells Smash that West Cambria has set him up real nice with a swimming pool and a dishwasher. He says that the two of them on the same team would be like nothing the state has ever seen. Smash literally glowers at the kid and says, simply, "I'm a Panther." Voodoo tells Smash that "it's just a uniform. I mean, look at your coach. I don't see him sticking around." Smash says, simply, nothing.
Cut over to Matt and Julie sitting in a stairwell in the hotel somewhere. Matt is pissed that Coach is leaving just to wear a red and gold shirt and be a stupid quarterback coach at TMU. Julie -- in a very touching moment -- tells Matt that he doesn't understand how much her father cares about and thinks about and lives for his players, that all he ever does is watch game tape, analyze, and strategize. "It's his whole life, Matt." Matt wants to know, then, why he's leaving and that is one question Julie can't answer.
Cut to Matt approaching Coach at the bar. Coach asks what he's doing up past bed check, and Matt simply says that he was with Julie. Coach looks at Matt and tells him he understands why Matt would be pissed at him, that he's not only leaving the team but taking Julie as well. He tells Matt, though, that if he's ever lucky enough to have a family, that he'll understand. Matt sort of looks off the side -- and, lord, those cheekbones are enough to slice a swath of hearts and teddy bears across my flinty heart -- and then tightly says goodnight to Coach. It appears that he did not get the answers he came looking for, as pretty much suggesting that a teen look forward to a time that isn't "five minutes from now" is probably not going to be the most effective way to get through to them.
Julie and Tami lounge in their hotel room. Coach comes in, and Tami immediately starts apologizing for not going to the dinner, but Coach wearily cuts her off and says it's fine. He goes out onto the balcony, and Tami follows him. She closes the door behind her and goes over to Eric. She says she saw that the news came out and Coach dejectedly says he's tried to explain to these kids but they just don't understand. The two are sort of tucked into the corner of their large hotel balcony. The lighting is tremendous here, too; as they face one another, their faces are half bathed in light from their room, half in deep shadow from the dark night behind them. Tami starts the conversation, slowly saying that she has to tell him something that she's been trying to tell him all day and acknowledging that the timing couldn't be worse.
Coach looks at his wife, truly looking like he has no idea what she is going to say. She continues, saying she doesn't know how he's going to take this news. Close up on her face as she just comes out and says it: "I'm pregnant." Tight shot of both of their faces in profile as Kyle Chandler takes a split second to absorb the news and then breaks into the most affecting eye-smile I've ever seen -- and people, we are only seeing half of this man's face right now (and none of his hair!). He eye-smiles and asks, "What'd you say?" She repeats it, and he repeats it back to her, "You're pregnant like you're gonna have a baby pregnant?" She confirms his scientific inquiry. He asks her to look him in the eye and tell him this again. She tells him, squinching up her eyes in the sweetest way possible, telling him that he looks a little "peaked." But you can tell that even though he hasn't quite reacted yet, everything about his face and bearing is telling her that he's with her, that they are partners, and that he loves her. So when he starts laughing and pulling her face close to his and kisses her and laughs, "I love you!" it isn't a surprise that he is such an unsurpassable man and husband and father, but it IS time to lean over the back of the couch and puke your damn full heart out.
Game time! Oh my god, I'm so nervous! It's like I've forgotten that I'm actually not a character in this show. The boys jump up and down in the darkness of the tunnel, and I don't know who invented those tunnels leading from the locker rooms to the stadiums, whether it was a cinematographer or what, but I will never fail to be moved by those shots moving from that dark nervousness to the blinding excitement of a big game. So they're jumping around, and then we cut out to the field as the Panthers run through the banner behind the flipping and running cheerleaders, out onto the field, accompanied by the deafening crowd and football announcer exposition about their having to fight and claw the whole season to get there. Shots of everyone we know and love in the stands, all dressed in blue and yellow; shot of Jason wheeling over the field with the other coaches, his parents looking on, seemingly finally getting that his life didn't end with that injury.
The camera ranges around and then zooms way up in the stadium where Landry comes in with snacks for Tyra and Angela, joking about their terrible seats.
Back down on the field, Coach tells his boys to own this game from the very beginning. They all seem effing ready to kick some ass, all except Matt who looks serious and pensive.
Ball snap! Saracen drops back and throws incomplete. Another play, Saracen gets sacked. Another snap, another incomplete. The offense is off to "a horrendous start," the announcer says. Mustangs get the ball. First snap and they run straight for a touchdown. Another snap, a beautiful throw by Voodoo and another touchdown, Mustangs. Shit! Buddy mutters on the sidelines that they're getting punished, "Curse of Voodoo." Shot of Tatum in slow motion looking damn tough. I'm worried. I'm really worried you guys and I've already seen this episode (spoiler!).
Coach is winging around the sidelines; he stops in front of the pensive Matt Saracen and he tells him to not even look at Voodoo. "Stay inside yourself, and only think about your series." (This is advice I'm trying to follow in thinking about this show's renewal.)
Panther offense is back on the field, but before we can even get psyched, Matt throws an interception that gets run back for another Mustang touchdown. And not only a touchdown, but one of those showy, front tucks into the end zone. Shit! All the Dillon air goes out of the stadium as the announcer declares that it looks like it's over for the Dillon Panthers. 26-0 at the half. He says that this team would follow Coach Taylor to the end of the earth but that it looks like that's exactly where he's led them with this TMU controversy. A shot of the Dillon sidelines, everyone standing a little too still, arms at their sides, no hope. The announcer says you can see the look of defeat in their eyes -- and the camera cuts around to the Streets, Julie, Grandma, the Williams girls, Lady Mayor, Tami -- and then he says it looks like their season might end right here, and we cut to Jason in his wheelchair, and the injustice of it all seems almost too much to bear. It can't end here for Jason. It can't! We stuck with him through all that boring Quad Rugby stuff, it can't end here!
In the silent locker room at the half. And I might as well say it here, but I'm choosing to take this entire scene as a shout-out to me. Why you ask? What do I have to do with male rituals like football locker room half time speeches? Well, not much. But I do have a lot to do with the burgeoning academic field of Kyle Chandler Hair Interpretation (there's been a theoretical vacuum in the academy since the fizzling out of poststructuralism, you know). And, as we've seen, Kyle Chandler's hair has been in lockdown for much of this episode. And so it seems that, in this scene, when we get Kyle Chandler's hair released in its full glory, BACK LIT, rising from his head like a phoenix, nay, like the Karate Kid doing that one famous one-legged crane pose, well it seems to me that this glorious Kyle Chandler hair moment simply HAS to be a shout-out to me. I like to think that I have enabled the hair. You're welcome.
So. Let's get serious. Because this is a seriously great scene (with some seriously great backlit hair emoting). Coach, a spotlight behind him, blinding our, and presumably his players', view of him, walks into the silent room. The boys look pissed and guilty and nervous, they aren't sure they CAN be pissed, but they are, and they don't know if that's why they aren't playing well or what the deal is. In short, they need their coach. And he fucking delivers. Coach starts, "When Jason Street went down first game of the season, everybody wrote us off. Everybody. And yet here we are, at the championship game. Forty thousand people out there have also written us off." Shots of the packed stadium, a sea of undifferentiated bodies. Back to Coach, "There are a few out there who do believe in you. Who'll never give up on you." Shots of the Streets, Grandma, Billy, Jackie, Bo, Nonnie, Corinna, Tami, Julie. Back to Coach, "When you go back on the field, those are the people I want in your mind, those are the people I want in your hearts. Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle. He's gonna fight and he's gonna lose. But what makes him a man, is that in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself. This game is not over. This battle is not over." Shots of the faces of all the boys, slowly realizing all their individual potentials, a realization that gets them so effing psyched up that when Coach tells them "Let's hear it one more time. Together." They don't hesitate, they don't start out quiet and then get loud, they do it in perfect unison, a team of fully realized individuals, strong from the very first, ready to follow Eric Taylor wherever. They respond to Coach's "Clear eyes, full hearts" with a resounding and powerful and affecting "CAN'T LOSE!"
You guys, seriously. This show is going to be the death of me.
Back on the field, it's a new day. Riggins runs for a first down. Saracen tosses to Williams who runs for a touchdown!! Mustang offense, Voodoo gets sacked! play, Voodoo scrambles and fumbles, the ball is loose, boys are diving and scrambling for it for what seems like an eternity before a Panther comes up with it and runs for another touchdown! 26-14.
Cut to the sidelines, where Jason's grabbing Matt's face mask and pulling him close, telling Matt that he's got to take control of this game "RIGHT NOW." Matt goes in, and passes a gorgeous spiral down to Smash who catches it right in the endzone. Holy crap! Dillon is back in it. Except for: cut to Smash getting up in the endzone, his right arm dragging unnaturally. Injury time out. It's his shoulder. Coach sends him into the locker room to get it checked. It's slightly dislocated; the medics tell him that they can pop it back in but that he shouldn't play. Smash tells them he's going back in, so they pop it back in with plenty of horrible sound effects and we cut back out to field...
...where the announcer exclaims, "Oh Mac Daddy, somebody stole my caddy, Smash Williams is playing through the pain." Whatever, dude. Seriously, say whatever, I don't care, I LOVE IT ALL!!!! Smash is running the ball like he's possessed. Cut to the huddle, where Matt informs his team that they've got 57 yards to go, so they're going to take 'em deep, "Blitz 27 Razor on 1." Really, WHATEVER! KEEP IT COMING! WANT ME TO BUY SOMETHING ADVERTISED DURING THIS SHOW? SURE! WHATEVER!
Saracen drops back and gets sacked. Shit! Panthers call time. Six seconds left. Mac wants to know what Taylor is thinking, should they go long to put it in the endzone? Taylor is skeptical, saying they can't do that because the Mustangs are going to have everyone back. Jason pipes up, saying they can run it out and then take a shot. Matt is listening to all this coach talk, and I'm feeling like there might be some "18 yard deep out" action coming up. See! I pay attention! I also pay attention to products advertised on and during this show, and I BUY THEM.
Matt tells Coach they can do an "18 yard cross Smash mirrors him on the other side. I'm gonna hit Riggins and he's gonna come underneath the defense...." okay even my brain gets taxed by all this football talk. Translation: Matt wants to do a risky play. Coach's saying yes or no to this proposition might be correlated to his willingness to trust this young man who loves his daughter. Friday Night Lights: Fun for men AND women!
Coach tells Matt to go for it.
Go to slow motion and slow instrumental music to underscore the assaulting chaos and speed of what's about to happen. Everyone looks on in anticipation. Ball snap, Saracen drills it at Riggins who pitches it to Smash the second he gets tackled who runs with it in super-extra slow motion just because somebody in production thinks I don't have enough goosebumps already, and he runs with -- I'm pretty sure -- at least thirty Mustangs attached to his dislocated shoulder and we keep cutting back to the crowd who looks on in terrified anticipation, and he runs and he runs and then dives and TOUCHDOWN PANTHERS WIN WOOOOO!!!!1111!!!! YES! I WANT TO GO BUY SOMETHING NBC ADVERTISES! WOOOOO!!!!
A whole series of touching moments where everyone is jumping around and making connections with people: Smash and Riggins hug, healing that never-followed-through-on hatred of one another; Julie hugs Grandma Saracen; Jason finds his parents and makes eye contact and then fist bumps with his dad across the distance; Coach tells Jason that this is for him; Coach approaches Matt with a smile of total father-in-lawish pride and love and hugs him; Buddy wooos; Tami runs onto the field and hugs her baby daddy.
And a lesser show might stop here. A show that was only about football, that is, would stop here on this Rudy moment. But this show keeps going because it is about PEOPLE (and also about buying shit advertised by NBC).
Lyla walks down the hotel hallway and dumps her cheerleading uniform in the maid's cart. Wait, aren't cheerleading uniforms usually school property? Tyra happens to be walking around, too, and remarks that that was an intense move on Lyla's part. Lyla turns and tiredly tells Tyra that it's been a really crappy year. And it truly has been for her, right? (I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO HER CHARACTER YEAR.) Tyra doesn't get why Lyla thinks this year was crappy -- which is pretty dense even for Tyra -- "Well, Panthers won State." Lyla says it's time for a change. And then, as Tyra walks off, she calls after her, "Hey Tyra. Wanna ride home with me?" In, presumably, her pretend car. Tyra's game.
Tami is folding and packing in the hotel room when Coach comes in, funnily, his State Championship hat tilted way down so she can see the logo. He dives at her and hugs her big. They smooch and hug and laugh and the camera ranges down to show Connie Britton standing with her bare feet on top of Kyle Chandler's sneakers. Nice catch; one of those details that feels completely honest and improvised and not blocked out before hand. This freaking show. So good.
Tami asks Eric if he feels different. He says he does, and then sits her down on the bed and says he wants to talk about something. He says there are more important things than football and TMU, and that nothing is more important to him than she and their family are. He tells her "here is what we're gonna do: I am going to stay in Dillon. I am going to be a father to this baby, to this family, I am going to coach high school football and we are gonna stay together. And that's the way it is. Yes?" Tami has been listening, clearly happy to hear him say these things but then narrowing her eyes and declaring, "No!" She tells him that he is going to Austin, and they do their talking-over-one-another thing until she gets him to quiet down. She tells him that she doesn't want the baby to be responsible for preventing him from living out his dream, that she has walked with him to get to the place they are at, that they did it together, that they allowed each other to have space to create dreams, and now he's got it in Austin, she's got it in Dillon with her job, and Julie has her life in Dillon, and it's going to be hard, but they are going to work through all this together because their relationship means that they can do it. And they stare at each other for a moment before it becomes clear that Julie's walked in: "So, what's going on?" Oh, honey, if you only knew.
Cue "Devil Town" and yet another sublime montage of a team and its town. The Panthers are feted with a championship parade which, thank God, progresses in slow motion. Old codger farmers clap, young girls with pony tails and legs clap, Coach beams, the boys all beam, the marching band marches, Lady Mayor gets loose, Tami and Julie stand by, family gathers around, Lyla looks on at Jason with stony pride, Tyra raises her eyebrow at Tim (I love those two looks the pushed-aside-for-now girls are giving at these boys and their Kings of the World stuff), Grandma Saracen looks positively, radiantly manic, Billy flies Bo over to Tim to ride in the championship truck, Julie and Matt lock eyes, Coach looks on it all, inscrutable, in hair/face lockdown.
Cut to Coach driving in his truck once again, listening to Panther Football Radio, once again. Full circle. The more things change. Platitudes have never been so artful. The announcers discuss how Coach took an ailing team and healed a team and its town. But no good deed goes unpunished, because those announcers then pose the question of what his flight from Dillon says about his devotion to the team. And, unsurprisingly, there's plenty of folks ready to call in and say that his flight means that he's heartless. Coach screws up his mouth and gets out of his truck to go into his office. The minute after you win, you're back at work trying to win some more.
He goes into the locker room where he finds Jason lecturing the team. They can feel good today, he says, but tomorrow they've got to work. season every team in Texas will be gunning for them. "So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna think about the off season. Off season's about development. Development of speed, development of strength, development of character." He forgets to mention DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWAL. Coach hangs back, listening to his protege, before walking down the hall as Jason tells the team to enjoy the day, but telling them "tomorrow we go to work." The camera ranges across the dozens of 8x10 photographs of the men that have made Dillon Panther Football throughout the years.
Coach comes through the door and meets the steely and seemingly disappointed glances of his players. He looks on them gently, they stare back, until one man -- Matt Saracen -- starts it up, what we've been waiting for all season, dreaming of and hoping for. Yes. The slow clap. It starts, and once it starts it cannot be stopped. And so it goes. The boys slow-clapping and then standing to honor their coach -- a man who has supported them and disappointed them, a man who made dreams come true, a man who made a lot of mistakes, not one of those mistakes hair-related -- they clap and cheer and Coach watches them with pride and takes their thanks gracefully. Jason calls from off screen, "Clear eyes, full hearts!" and the boys respond, "Can't lose!"