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Jason and Tim head to New York City to get Jason a job with Grant the Sports Agent, and then win What's Her Name back. It's like a Pace Salsa commercial. Grant the Sports Agent receives Jason chillily; apparently their mutual acquaintance, former Panther Wendell, decided to sign with another sports agency and Grant is pissed at the state of Texas and all its inhabitants. Jason hangs his head and seems ready to give up when Tim tells him he needs to go to Wendell and convince him to sign with Grant. Jason does, and it works, and he gets a job with the agency. He goes out to Jersey to find What's Her Name and his son, and they take him back, and Tim tears up, and I am settling firmly on the side of Anti-Change here. Stay in Texas, Jason!
Katie McCoy tips Tami off on a house that's been foreclosed on and is going on the market. Tami loves it and tries to convince Coach to take the plunge. Coach at first says no, then reconsiders, and then says.... no. But the second time, he explains it much more eloquently. Tami realizes she doesn't need any stinking house when she's got this man and his hair in her life.
The Panthers are dealing with some crises just before the playoffs. Mac has a heart attack and needs to be temporarily replaced. The boosters want Wade, J.D.'s private coach, to step in. Coach tries to resist the McCoy vortex, but can't. Meanwhile, Matt is tired twiddling his thumbs on the bench, and asks Coach if he can play receiver. Coach says no at first, explaining that Matt can't get injured, because he has to be the back up for J.D. But Matt persists, proves himself on the field, and then during an extremely sweet impromptu after-dinner try out at the Taylors', and Coach finally relents and lets him try.
Tyra has a college interview, but tanks it because she's worried that Cash is going to cheat on her while on cowboy tour. She sits around in various scenes looking insecure and just not at all Tyra-like, until at the very end, Cash shows up on his way out of town, and Tyra tells him she's coming with him. Just like his own tall, blond chastity belt.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Billy, Tim, Jason, and Herc continue celebrating their sale of the house. Billy can't get out a decent toast-- "To being bad-ass real estate guys who..." -- so they all just settle on Jason's simple and quick "To money!" Herc wonders what everyone is going to do with the money. Billy is going to tell Mindy she doesn't ever have to shake her ass at The Landing Strip ever again. Herc says he's going to either open an orphanage or see how many margaritas he can buy for fourteen grand. Fourteen grand? I'm thinking it's going to be less "retirement" and more "sabbatical" for Mindy. Then it's Jason's turn. He speedtalks his way through his plan to go to New York, get a job with his friend Grant, and be close to Noah. Herc is like "Who's Grant?" Jason says he's a guy he met once. Oh, dear. Tim's gotten serious, and asks Jason if he's really going to just up and move to New York. Jason tells him he's not going to LIVE in New York; no, he'll live in New Jersey with Erin and Noah and commute in to New York. This plan is really making me depressed for some reason. Tim puts his finger on it: "Why would you want to leave Texas?" Jason tells him it's not about Texas anymore, it's about Erin and Noah. Tim, always ready to just go with it, leans back and asks, "Okay. So when we leaving, Six?"Katie and Tami flutter through an empty house. Tami loves it, Katie knew she would. Katie tells Tami she'd need to move fast because the house is going on the market in three days. Tami says it's like her dream house, and is everything she and Eric have talked about having one day. Katie says she's going to call the realtor and tell her they want to make an offer. Tami tells her to hold on a minute; Katie looks at her intently and reminds her, "Tami, it's a foreclosure." Tami says the house is a good price, but also tells Katie that it would be a stretch for them financially. Katie does not compute this talk about "finances" and tells Tami to look around: "You deserve this."
Tyra and Cash sit in the back of his pick-up truck discussing him having to go on the road. Cash wants Tyra to come with him, but she reminds him that she has school. Just a few days, Cash unhelpfully requests, and Tyra says she has a college interview that week. Cash tells her that the interview is important. Tyra says that they'll talk on the phone every day and he'll be back soon. Right? Cash unconvincingly agrees, "Yeah, I'll be back."
Football practice. The receivers are stinking up the scene. Matt can't take the incompetence, and yells at Jamarcus, asking if he knows what a post is. He asks Coach if he can show him, and Coach, pissed, says sure, it'll be better than what they've got going out there now. Matt steps in and of course completes a beautiful pass. Mac shouts that that's the way to do it, but then starts to clutch at his chest and sink to the ground. Oh, no. Chicken Fried Steak strikes again. Coach realizes what's happening and runs over to Mac, telling someone to call 911.
Credits. New York. Tim and Jason strut around the busy city streets. Well, Tim struts and Jason wheels, but they do it in slow motion and set to T. Rex, so the overall effect is "strut." Tim asks Jason what the plan is, and Jason says that the plan is to get a suit and then go to Grant's office. Boys, a suit from Kohl's back home would really have been a better plan. Tim grabs a guy walking past him and asks where he got his suit. Paul Stuart is the answer. Tim goes over to a cab and leans on the driver's window and asks where Paul Stuart is. The cabbie tells him to get off his cab, "jackass." Cut to the boys buying hot dogs from a cart, Tim handing over a hundred dollar bill, the cart guy mumbling something at him in another language. It's just like a Pace Salsa commercial. Though I'm wishing it were a little more Midnight Cowboy. Just sayin', Tim. Cut over to the boys on the subway, talking and laughing together. What an adventure!
That is, until they find Paul Stuart. Tim tells Jason that the suit on the mannequin -- a rather flamboyant pin-striped number -- is the one. They ask the salesman what the damage is, and find out that the imported cashmere woolen suit will run $1885. Jason's face is a hilarious country blank and we cut to a shop sign declaring, "Two suits $125." They sidle up to the suits hanging on the rack outside on the sidewalk, Tim asking Jason if he wants "dark? Or blue?" I love the idea of going out looking for a "dark" suit. Tim prattles about the suit feeling pretty nice, he doesn't know, when Jason starts to panic: "What if she says no, Riggs?" Tim tells Jason that he can play the "what if" game all day; he believes Jason is doing the right thing. Jason is looking at his friend with real trust in his face; he needs to believe that Tim believes in him. The salesman comes out and rattles off about the two suit, two shirt, two tie, free shoe package, and the boys shrug and go for it.
Hospital. Buddy and Coach visit Mac, and tell him to just get better and not worry about anything. They leave the room and the second they're out the door, Buddy is like "Okay, we gotta get a new coach. Here's the deal...." while Coach rubs his head. Buddy suggests that Coach hire Wade -- J.D.'s private coach -- for the position. Coach of course resists because he's tired of being a serf in Joe McCoy's weird football fiefdom. Buddy says he's only suggesting Wade because he's the perfect fit -- he already knows J.D., he knows their spread offense, et cetera. Coach tries to sound tough, telling Buddy to tell the Boosters he'll deal with it in his own way, but everyone knows he's going to have to fold to the pressure once again.
Tami is talking with Tyra in her office. Tami is excited about the interview Tyra has with Weston College. Apparently Weston holds aside spots every year for students like Tyra, who didn't have the best grades at the beginning of high school, but have shown steady improvement. Tyra looks uncharacteristically abashed, telling Tami quietly that she's excited, too, but not really convincing anyone.
Coach stands in the front yard mindlessly watering the lawn. Matt walks up to hand off some charts to Coach. Coach thanks him, and Matt tries to ask him how Mac is doing, but Coach just starts shouting to Julie in the house over Matt's quiet conversation-making. Matt persists, though, despite Coach's shouting for Julie, asking Coach whether he could move over to receiver. He makes his pitch about knowing the routes and being a better asset to the team on the field as a receiver, but Coach interrupts him. He tells Matt that if he were to get injured, and J.D. were to get injured, that the team would be out a quarterback. Matt hangs his head, then Julie comes out and they go off.
Back in NY, Jason looks sharp in his $65 suit. Cut inside of Grant's office. The receptionist is a bit chilly, "Do you have an appointment, Mr. Street?" Jason is taken aback, and she tells him to call back and make an appointment. He explains to her that Grant told him to stop by if he was ever in NY and, through a combination of sweetness, Southern charm, and the wheelchair, he gets her to call back. On the other side of the phone, Grant clearly doesn't remember his name, so Jason tells the receptionist to tell him he's Wendell Foley's friend. Grant comes out of the office and asks what Jason's doing there. This is not a good start. Grant asks him to come back with him to chat for a minute. Cut inside where Jason nervously tells him that he'd been thinking about what Grant told him, that being a sports agent is so great, blah, blah, blah, until Grant interrupts him, "Just stop, son. Listen to yourself." Jason starts stammering, telling him that he could start at the bottom. Grant tells him that he's living in a dream world, this isn't Dillon where you can get a job at the car dealership just because you know the Boosters. He informs Jason that the people applying for entry-level positions are Harvard graduates. And then we get a sense of why he's being so harsh to Jason. Grant tells him that it was a miracle he got where he is, and it'll be a miracle if he can stay. Wendell screwed him over, signed with another, bigger agency, and didn't even call him. Grant tells Jason the only reason he let him in the office was to find out some information about Wendell. "Welcome to New York City, son." Man. It's hard out there for a good ole boy.
Practice. The boys file off the field. J.D. goes up to Wade and asks if he's ready to practice more. Wade tells J.D. that they'll forego extra practice for the day, and go get something to eat instead. Little Abused J.D. is like "Really? Really?" and scampers off to the locker room. Coach comes up behind and asks Wade to take it easy on J.D., give him some rest right now. Wade tells Coach that's exactly what he's doing. Coach takes a breath and asks Wade what he thinks about coming on as assistant coach. Wade is into it, but Coach sternly tells him that it's only temporary and if it happens, J.D. can have no special treatment. Wade extends his hand, and they shake on it.
Matt and Julie walk down the road together. Matt asks Julie if her dad is mad at him. He feels like ever since Matt yelled at him, Coach has been holding a grudge or something. Julie tells Matt that her father is just really stubborn, and all you need to do is just be persistent. She says it works for her; Matt asks, "doesn't it get annoying?" and Julie is like "son, let me introduce you to the Teen Girl's Parental-Whittling Toolkit."
Tyra in a waiting room. Her phone rings just as a woman comes out to tell her to come on back. Tyra commits the first mistake, asking if she can take the call first. The woman looks displeased, but says fine. Tyra goes into the hallway to talk with Cash. Cash "baby girls" her this, and "I'll miss you" that, and Tyra meeps out her question, "Are you gonna be faithful to me?" Cash tries to laugh the question off, but Tyra's silence prompts him to be honest. He tells her he'll be gone a long time, and there's going to be a lot of cold, lonely nights. What is this, a Journey song? He says he's going to "try" to be faithful to her, because he loves her. Ooooo, this Cash, he makes me soooo mad! Tyra tears up but just tells him she has to go to her interview. He wishes her good luck. She walks into the woman's cubicle and sits down. The woman asks her to tell her about herself and Tyra starts, warbling voiced, "I'm from Dillon. I'm seventeen. And, I would love to go to college."
Commercials. Tyra walks into Tami's office and asks if she heard from Weston College. Tami is bright and positive, telling Tyra that she thinks the interview went "fine," they won't know anything until after winter break, so Tyra needs to keep on with the application process. Then she puts the nail in the brightly-colored coffin: "This interview process is a learning experience." Tyra can read between the lines, and she sort of sulks out of the office.
Football practice. Wade is running some kind of drill that Matt is included in. Coach stalks over because his sole aim in life is to make Matt's miserable. He asks what Wade is doing, and Wade jabbers something about running some drills he picked up at a USC camp and the boys like it. Coach asks what Matt's doing over there and tells Wade the risks of him getting injured. Wade tells Coach he isn't playing Matt "live" -- he won't let him get hurt. Coach instructs Matt to get his red shirt back on.
Coach walks out of the locker room to find Joe McCoy lying in annoying wait for him. If Coach's hair is sometimes suave, sometimes frustrated, sometimes full of joy, Joe McCoy's hair is like a cloud of gnats, Urkel, and a run in your stocking, i.e., just ANNOYING. McCoy tells Coach that he's glad Coach put their differences aside and hired Wade. Coach looks horrified, and then just nods his head, deciding the cloud of gnats isn't even worth a swat. "Good" he remarks, and then walks off.
Tami walks Coach through her dream house while the realtor -- the sole realtor in Dillon apparently -- sits off to the side. Tami trills and loves and imagines, "You could throw the ball back there with Jules." Coach deadpans, "Is that our Julie, or are we going to have another one?" Heh. Tami tells him he knows what she means and then speaks his language, "We could have the barbecue here? You know?" Coach is in lockdown, and Tami draws him aside. He whispers to her, "We cannot afford this." Tami whispers back that she knows it's a stretch, and Coach whisper-interrupts to repeat, "We can't afford it." They whisper-escalate about whether or not they are or not having a conversation, and then about what would happen if either of them lost their job, and then about whether or not Coach is being pessimistic or realistic in bringing up the possibility of job loss, and on and on until the whispering is approaching Batman levels of whisper screaming. Tami tells him they need to think of their lives, not think of all this doom and gloom that keeps them in one place always. She says this is their dream house. Coach points out, "You just said 'our'" and then says that his side of "our" says "no." Tami tells him to not just say no. He asks if he should then say yes, and she says no, you shouldn't just say yes either. The realtor is off to the side, not realizing that she bought tickets to Revolutionary Road, and Coach walks off. Tami throws her hands up, and gives a little embarrassed, "Sorry" to the realtor.
Tim and Jason are on the campus of Penn A&M, going after Wendell. Tim points out that if this all works out, Jason is going to have to live here. "You know, for good." Jason asks if it bothers Tim a little, and Tim just smiles and brushes the implication aside. Jason assures him that he'll be back to Dillon to visit, and then takes off to go find Wendell in his dorm room. Cut to Jason giving Wendell the hard sell, going on about how the bigger, fancier agency will just look at him as a paycheck, as another BMW in the garage. He argues that he needs someone young, smart, and ambitious, someone who is going to put all his heart into making Wendell, because in making Wendell, this person will make himself. Jerry Effing Maguire, this one, with the sports agency manifesto. Jason continues, telling Wendell that Grant is going to work harder for him because Wendell is going to put dinner on Grant's table, is going to be his kids' college fund. "When success is essential to keeping your family together, there's nothing a man won't do." I feel like I wish we could keep following Jason's story far enough for him to find out this weird "a man's family" stuff doesn't actually work in the real world for real adults. I mean, it's sweet and all, but come on, this is a lesson this kid needs to learn. Jason tells Wendell to just give Grant a call. Wendell asks Jason what's in it for him; Jason tells him that he wants Grant to give him a job, but also that he wants Wendell to succeed, that he could have just gone home without a job, realizing Wendell was making a mistake but not really doing anything about it. "But you know me. I couldn't do that." Wendell: "Jason. There's no one else like you, man."
Commercials. Jason, Tim, and Wendell in Grant's waiting room. This time, Jason's not in a suit. Grant comes out, all surprised, and Wendell tells him that Jason brought him in. Grant smiles and jokes with Wendell a bit, asking him to come back to talk. He pauses and then turns to Jason and says that he needs him back there, too. Jason and Tim exchange glances, and Jason wheels after Grant, Tim realizing that it's now a done deal.
Taylor's, dinner. Matt is over, and compliments Tami's chicken. Tami snarks that it's nice to be complimented over a dinner one's slaved over. Coach snarks back that he told her before it was a really nice meal. Julie realizes that no time is like the present when it comes to annoying your already-annoyed parents, and asks her father why he won't let Matt play receiver. Coach declares they don't talk football at dinner; Matt tries to get Julie to stop, but she's on a roll, brushing aside her father's disingenuous claim -- "We talk football at breakfast, lunch, and dinner" -- and then says all they are doing is being a family, talking about work. Coach's hair looks like "What hath I wrought in this girl?" Julie could give Jason Street a run for his sports agent money, telling her father that Matt deserves the chance, he's done so much for the Panthers, it's his senior year, he knows all the routes, and thinks like a QB. Tami, at the other end of the table, just shrugs at her husband. Coach tries to change the subject to the house they can't afford, but Matt senses that this man has so much on his plate right now, he's the family-man equivalent to an injured gazelle: "I do know the routes better than anyone." Matt says that he'll prove it; they should go outside and Coach can call ten routes, he'll make them all, and if he doesn't they never have to talk about it again. Coach decides to put an end to it -- he either needs to escape the death grip of these teens, or rise up against them -- and says okay, if Matt misses one, they never talk about it again, if he doesn't, Coach will think about it. "That's it." They head outside.
Out on the street. Coach sets Matt up while the ladies look on, cheering for Matt. Pass after pass, Matt makes the catches. Coach starts coaching him a bit -- not just antagonizing him -- telling him to keep his arms in, pick up his feet. Matt asks him if he's doing good, which just about breaks my heart, and Coach says "Yeah" but then needles him about looking a little slow. Matt needles him back, saying he just hasn't been using his legs much on the bench. Coach continues calling routes, Matt continues making them. It's nine out of nine, and we get set up for the last pass. Matt runs down the street, and Coach throws long... and Matt just misses it. Close-up on Coach who looks disappointed that Matt didn't make it, and then Matt slinking back toward the group. Coach reaches out to shake his hand and says, "It was a piss poor pass. I'll think about it." Coach and Tami head inside, and Julie breaks into a wide grin at Matt. Cut over to Coach and Tami, walking in, Coach asking under his breath if they've got aspirin in the house, Tami remarking, "You haven't thrown like that in years." Ha. So, he's less injured gazelle, and more aging lion, all roar and achy limbs. Behind them, Julie and Matt flirt and joke, Julie asking if, as his girlfriend, she's entitled to ten percent of his future earnings. No, Julie. Boys get paid to be agents, girls just get to do it for the love of a good man.
Tyra sits at home, looking at a list of colleges she needs to apply to, and then crumples up the list. You know what might help Tyra? GIRLFRIENDS. Jesus. Where are this girl's girlfriends? Cut to Cash walking up to her front door, presumably to say goodbye. She opens the door and comes down the steps with a couple of packed bags, declaring that she's coming with him. Cash kisses her and then asks what she's doing about school. She says "who cares" and then tells him to hurry up before she changes her mind. LADIES. Seriously. I need these ladies to step it up a bit this season; there is far too much man attending-to going on.
Tami and Coach are in bed, Coach asleep, Tami awake. She leans over and turns on the lamp on his side of the bed and tells him she can't stop thinking about the house. She apologizes for maybe handling the issue wrong, but says she thinks they need to just do this together as a couple, and a family. She asks if he'll go back to the house and think about it together, think about what they want for their lives and their finances, together. Coach sleepily agrees, and Tami happily flumps back onto her pillow.
Commercials. Back at the house, the realtor prattles and buzzes on and on. Tami entertains her babbling, until Coach asks her to just give them a second to talk it over. "Just a little breathing room?" She leaves and Coach exhales once they are alone, "God, she talks so much!" Tami tells Coach to not let her turn him off from the house. Tami looks excited while Coach paces and paces. She lets out a giggle; he keeps pacing and looks like he's considering it. She asks him how great it would be, and he stops pacing. He tells her that as much as he would like to give her the house, give the kids this house, they cannot do this. He tells her that if they got the house, he would not sleep at night. "I would go crazy." Tami is quiet for a moment and then tells him that she doesn't need the house. She has him, and Julie, and Grace, and the best life. She doesn't need the house. She tells him that she appreciates him coming and looking and being honest; all she wanted was for them to make the decision together.
You guys, I'm torn here. My feminism does not believe that women always need to be in charge, nor that we necessarily need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to gender roles. Lord knows, I rarely take the trash out to the dumpster, and sometimes my eyes are bigger than our wallet and my husband reminds me of it. But this episode is making me a little annoyed. Jason's desire to be near his son (an admirable desire, to be sure) getting filtered through this shriveled "a man's gotta take care a his family" thing, and then all these women kind of simpering and fluttering around. This scene between Tami and Coach is particularly hard, because it feels very real, and I appreciate that. There is an authenticity about how this marriage works. But, there's a line between trying to reflect "how it is" (realism -- what we love about this show, right?) and relying on worn-out old truisms, and I feel like maybe this episode crosses that line a bit.
Stepping off soapbox now. Tim and Jason are in a cab, Jason rehearsing what he's going to say to What's Her Name when he shows up on her doorstep. "I got a job, and want to live with you, and Noah, if you'll have me... No, no, that's not right" and the like. Tim listens quietly, and then says, seriously, "Jason, I'm pregnant." Jason asks him what the hell he's talking about, and Tim explains that he was just "being your gal," asking Jason what he'll do if she throws him a curve ball like that. The cab takes the exit onto the 1 and 9, heading from NYC to Jersey. Oh, the 1 and 9, how much I have not missed you over the past decade.
Football field, practice. J.D.'s making the passes, his dad and the Boosters stand around on the sidelines. Coach nonchalantly calls Matt onto the field, telling him to step in as receiver. He jumps in and runs down a beautiful pass. Zoom in on Coach, in hair and face lockdown.
Cut to a state-sponsored advertisement for New Jersey. Tim and Jason ride along in the cab through rolling hills and golden arbors and horses. I think they might have done better to just rent a Zipcar for the day. Seriously? A cab? Even to Summit or someplace close in to the city that looks this nice, this ride has to be a couple of hundred dollars. Anyhow, they both look out the window, each realizing that this is where Jason is going to be living from now on. They pull up to the house and Tim remarks on how nice the neighborhood is -- cute little Cape Cods set along a quiet street -- while getting the wheelchair set up for Jason. Tim helps him in -- the camera once again lingering on his motionless and heavy legs, a nice visual reminder of what we've been through with Jason -- and then quietly says, "Hey, J-Six. Ummm." He starts telling Jason that he hopes he gets everything he wants, but sort of chokes up halfway through and has to start again. He tells Jason that no matter what happens, he'll always be his best friend, and that Jason deserves to be happy. Jason looks teary, and tells Tim thank you. He starts to wheel up to the house, but turns around after a moment and reaches his fist out to Tim: "Texas forever?" Tim laughs and fist bumps him, "Texas forever."
Jason wheels up to the door, What's Her Name just inside the screen coming out, surprised that he's there. Jason asks if she minds if he holds the baby. She hands Noah to Jason, and then kneels down in front of them. Jason tells her that he just got his foot in the door of a sports agency, he's going to be making around $40,000 a year -- "Which I hear isn't much in this neck of the woods." Seriously, you guys. I'm worried about this plan now. Jason continues, telling What's Her Name that he wants her to be able to take some time off and be with Noah, and that he would like to be with her and Noah, if that's what she wants. But if that isn't what she wants, he'll still find a place nearby, not to be a stalker, but to be there for her and for him, because he's not ever going to let the baby down. What's Her Name apparently forgets that the last time we saw her, saying goodbye to Jason, she didn't even say she loved him. Now, she's teary and tells him that she's missed him so much, leans in and kisses him. Cut back to Tim, who leans up against the million-dollar cab, his face full of emotion. Thank you, Tim Riggins, for making this scene. Because who cares about Jason's non-relationship with What's Her Name? Oh, god, the more I think about it, the more depressed I get. Twenty years old, living in New Jersey with this random lady and a baby, dealing with the NJ Transit everyday in a wheelchair? Where are they going to live on $40,000/year? I have so many questions, and feel so nervous, oh this goodbye is not going smoothly for me at all. Sigh. Tim, call me. We can talk it all over.