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Luke Cafferty's mother goes to Becky under the guise of just wanting to know "what happened." Becky tells her the whole story, and then Mrs. Cafferty then tries to get Tami Taylor fired for "advising" Becky to have an abortion. The complaint goes all the way to the school board; but Tami holds her ground when faced with questioning from an overly politicized board lady -- insisting that all she did was counsel a girl according to protocol while also managing to act like a human being -- and they ultimately vote to keep her principal. But Mrs. Cafferty isn't satisfied and goes to the press, launching Tami Taylor, exemplary human being, into the midst of the most inhumane cultural war there is.
Mrs. Cafferty isn't the only Cafferty having a hard time. Luke's side still looks like a tenderized piece of meat, and his pharmacist has gotten wise to his overly quick Oxycontin refills. So left without "legal" drugs, Luke is driven to Carroll Park to seek out some from the dealers there. But even illegally procured Oxycontin can't keep Luke on his feet during Friday's football game, where he takes one hit too many, and finally can't get up. Traub does a quick sideline diagnosis, declaring that he'll be out for the season.
Vince is drawn deeper into the thug lifestyle, being forced to ride along with Calvin and the other bad guy to collect money. But things go awry one night and Calvin gets shot and killed.
Matt (is back! but oh so briefly) is in Chicago where it is grey and rainy. Oh, my dear Chicago. I miss you so. He is lonely in his enormous artist's loft and picks up the phone to call Julie. It takes him a few times to get her to actually talk to him, and when she does, it's a doozy. She breaks down crying, and tells Matt that she hates him for leaving her. Matt is left with a lot to brood about, so it's helpful that he has that big loft to do that in.
Finally: has anyone else noticed that Coach is starting to spend a little too much time in bars?
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Buddy's got his radio voice on, hosting a call-in show on 1040 AM El FUEGO!!!. Coach is the guest and humors him, but just barely, fielding calls from folks obsessing about the game against the Panthers in two weeks. Coach repeatedly refuses to talk much about the Panther game, declaring that he and his players are focusing on the game they've got this week.Luke is trying to get his prescription refilled again, but the pharmacist is onto him. Luke tries to lie that he lost the pills that he got refilled last week, but the pharmacist isn't going to play loosey goosey with Oxycontin. Luke tries desperation, saying that he's got a huge game coming up and he needs the pills, but the pharmacist only asks if he needs to call someone -- Luke's coach, his parents -- about this. Luke stammers his way back out the door, muttering that he guesses he'll just have to "find" those "lost" pills.
Matt carries groceries home in a grey Chicago drizzle. CHICAGO!!! Oh, wait, but also: MATT SARACEN!!! I just got overwhelmed, confronted by two things I miss very, very much. He gets upstairs to his HUGE drafty-looking loft (c'mon, I miss and romanticize Chicago real estate as much as anyone but this is not the kind of place you live when you are going to art school) and looks longingly at a snapshot of Julie pinned up on top of yet another drawn hand (lay off the hands, Matt, it's starting to look kind of serial killerish).
Julie has her hair curled and coiffed into "sweet" for a little interview-type thing she's doing with Habitat for Humanity. She explains that she just felt really rewarded building that last house, and wants to get more involved. The guy she's talking to asks if she's ready to make the kind of time commitment that becoming a team leader would require and she assures him she will. He mentions that they'll just need parental consent since she's seventeen, and she kind of tightly lies that that shouldn't be a problem. I smell a gap year coming for Julie Taylor!
Becky answers the door to find Luke's mom, who introduces herself and says she just really wanted to meet Becky and extend a hand and tell her that she wishes she had been able to be there to help her. Becky is clearly moved by the gesture. Luke's mom asks if Becky has a few minutes to talk to her and help her understand better what happened. Becky invites her in. And, even knowing what Margaret will do later in the episode to go after Tami Taylor, I think this was a nicely done, real moment between her and Becky. That is, I think she really does want to connect with Becky, and that while what she does with the information that she gets from Becky is offensive and wrong, I think it comes from a real, hurting place in her.
Vince is in the Cadillac, getting lectured by the head bad guy car stealer. Calvin pulls them up in front of a house, and Vince has to go in and watch the Head Bad Guy beat someone up with a tire iron over not being able to pay for whatever car parts he's gotten from him. Vince watches, looking vulnerable and young, and when the Head Bad Guy hands him the tire iron, Vince can't do it, opting instead to just kick the guy over a bit. Out at the car, Head Bad Guy yells at him for not participating, and Vince pleadingly asks how much longer he has to do this for, how long until they're even. Head Bad Guy: "Rehab ain't cheap, man."
Coach drives by Panthers field, listening to his radio interview taped earlier that day. On the radio, sounding bitchy and superior, he insists to Buddy that he's only focused on the game right in front of him, not the Panthers game; but his obsessive stalking of the lavish field that used to be his home tells us something different.
Credits. Lions practice. Coach lectures his team to focus on today, on practice, on Friday. He sends them onto the field. Vince passes to Luke, who then takes a big hit to take him down. Luke goes crosseyed with pain through his helmet and struggles slowly to his feet. Tinker comes over to see if he's okay, he swears he is. Coach notices ("You alright?") but doesn't really heed his obvious injury. The kids take five, Luke runs under the bleachers to pop some pills that he's got wrapped in newspaper and tucked into his waistband.
Tim marches into the real estate office and dumps a bunch of cash on creepy Real Estate Lady's desk. She's shocked and jokingly asks if he robbed a bank; Tim deadpans, "You're not gonna tell anyone are ya?" Then breaks into a wide grin. She tells him that she'll submit his offer on his dream Texas Forever land and let him know what they say.
Tami's in a meeting with the weaselly superintendent. He tells her that Luke Cafferty's mother is trying to get her fired. Tami assumes it must be about making Luke transfer to East Dillon, but Paul clarifies that it's because "you instructed a girl carrying, in her words, her grandchild to get an abortion." Tami is flabbergasted and says she had a conversation with a girl but never instructed anyone to do anything. Paul pushes to hear exactly what she told the girl and Tami reminds him that the conversation is confidential, and then explains that the girl sought her out, it wasn't on school property, and Tami followed protocol. Paul says there will be a school board hearing, which flabbergasts Tami even more -- "Well, why?" -- and that this is a hot button issue with a parent who really wants to be heard: "This is turning into a very serious situation, Tami."
Landry and Jess are at her locker. Landry's setting up dinner with his parents and Jess wonders if his parents even know she's black. She just wants to know what she's walking into. Landry: "Well, I can tell you you're walking into some very hit-or-miss cooking." But then he gets serious and says what she's walking into is two parents who really love seeing their son happy, and want to see what he's been so happy about. Jess smiles, "You've been happy?" and they lean in and kiss. Vince walks by and Jess gets self-conscious and pulls away: "Let's not get too happy in the hallway."
Tim drives up and finds Becky's mom lugging groceries from her car into the house. He helps her out, and inside, she tells him that he's alright. When she picked him up at that bar, she had no idea what a good guy he is. She tells him that he's been good to her and to her daughter, that he's kind of part of the family. Right, the kind of guy who goes both ways: mother and daughter. Tim accepts the compliment and then invites her and Becky out to dinner. He's in the mood to celebrate. She's left in the kitchen grinning goofily.
At the Taylors, Coach asks Tami what exactly happened. She sits with Gracie in her lap and talks animatedly that what happened is that she did what she is licensed to do. Neither of them understand why anyone is accusing Tami of advising that girl to have an abortion when her mother is the one who took her to get one. Julie walks in, and Coach and Tami get all ixnay on the ortionabay. Julie asks if everything's alright as Tami hands Gracie over to get put to bed, but they just murmur that everything's fine. In Gracie's room, Julie tries to get her little sister excited for bed, but she gets the dreaded two year old "No!" Julie's phone starts vibrating and she goes over to check who it is. She picks it up and sees it's Matt. Cut to Matt looking out the window at a rainy, rainy night. Julie answers and Matt asks her how she's been. She kind of chokes up and says, "I can't talk to you right now" and hangs up, leaving Matt alone with his deluge.
Commercials. Jess makes conversation with Landry's parents at the dinner table. She talks about her brothers but goes quiet when Landry's dad mentions her mother. Oooh, Jess's mother. The taboo subject for eleven episodes now! So to make things a little more uncomfortable, Landry's mom flips through her mental index cards of "What to Talk about with Black People" and asks "So what do you think of Obama so far, Jess?" Jess and Landry practically choke on their stroganoff until Jess finally, through a full mouth, mutters "I think he's....good? He's good. A good President." Landry's mother says that she has to agree and they all sit in quiet agony around the table.
Tim, out to dinner with Becky and her mom, says that he's got some news that not even he has fully processed. He tells them that he's now "a proud owner of a little piece of Texas." Becky's mom freaks out and congratulates him, but Becky wonders where he got the money. Tim covers that "Garrity motors threw us some work" but Becky isn't convinced, even while her airheaded mom coos and grins. She wonders what Tim will do with the land and Tim says that eventually he'll build a house. Becky's mom is like "With your own hands?!?" and as he says yes you can practically see the X-rated cartoon bubble of what she'd love a man who builds houses with his own hands to do to her with his own hands. Tim mentions that first, though, he's going to enroll in Tech school to make sure that Riggins Rigs can stay current and ahead of the competition, so he'll be wanting to live in the Sproles backyard for a little longer. Becky's mom practically throws her bra at him when he says this, and Becky looks at her like "Ew."
Luke shakes out a few pills for himself before bed. His mom knocks on his door to say good night; she beams at him as she tells him to not forget to say his prayers, and he says "Yes, ma'am." She closes the door and Luke gets to praying: "Dear Lord, please let me get some more drugs before Friday."
Julie walks down the hallway and into her mom's bedroom where Tami's reading in bed. Julie gets in with her and asks if Tami is going to let her know what's going on. Tami takes a breath, and tells her that somebody is trying to get her fired for giving counsel to a girl in need. Julie asks if her mom can really get fired and Tami just tells her not to worry.
Becky's mom, either 4 regular or 2 "Big as Your Head" margaritas in, weaves her way out to Tim's trailer. She knocks on his door and he lets her in, only to get attacked by her lips in mid-welcome. Tim pushes her away and says that this isn't a good idea. She tells him that this isn't just about sex -- they've already done that -- but that she thinks they should get to know each other. "I'm a pretty great girl." Oh, the desperation. Becky's mom whose name I can never remember: quit it! She tells him that he's a pretty great guy and they barely know each other even though they live "a few meters away." Meters? First the mother-daughter thing. Now the metric system? This is really getting perverted. She thinks it would be a shame if they didn't date, since they live so close together. That's a whole new dating theory right there: just date whatever dude happens to live closest to you! Tim sits down and reminds us of her name -- Cheryl -- saying that he thinks she's great, and he really appreciates what she's done for him, and that he respects her and Becky, but he's not the right guy for her, he's not ready to be in a relationship with someone who has a family. She downgrades her pitch a bit: "It doesn't have to be a relationship" (ouch). And then Tim tells her again, firmly, that this isn't going to happen. She laughs ruefully, and then apologizes and then declares that she's drunk and was just taking a shot in the dark. She plasters a really fake smile on as she thanks him for dinner and walks dejectedly out of the trailer door.
Luke runs into Becky in the hallway. Becky asks how his mom is, and he's confused. Becky explains that she came over to talk the other day but that she left kind of suddenly. Luke is horrified and apologizes, but Becky assures him that it was alright, they had a good talk. But Luke keeps apologizing and sort of shuffles off, "That will never happen again, I'm so sorry."
School board meeting. A prim-lipped lady questions Tami, about whether Tami thought it was appropriate to take on the role of counselor to a girl. Tami wonders if this lady even knows what her "role" is: "I am a certified counselor and principal. I followed protocol and district policies." The lady continues challenging her, accusing Tami of imposing her values on an innocent and confused sixteen-year-old girl. Tami: "No ma'am I did NOT impose my values." The lady's on a roll: "You referred her to an abortion clinic!" Tami clarifies once again that she did not, that her mother took her to the clinic. The lady: "You provided her with information that allowed her to get her child aborted!" Well, put the internet in jail, then. I mean, geez. Tami keeps contradicting and the prim lady wonders if Tami is calling her a liar. Tami says that no, but the lady has bad information. Wow, bad information. What a surprise, in the abortion debate. A guy jumps in to get them back on track, that is, off the abortion track. A parent has complained that an educator from their district has inappropriately advised a girl. Superintendent Paul agrees. The prim lady tries again: "Mrs. Taylor, did you or did you not advise this girl to get an abortion." Tami quietly says "No, I did not advise her to get an abortion." And too many reality shows later, I yell from my TV -- show 'em the tape of your conversation with Becky, Tami! Tami finally takes a stand, telling these troglodytes that a girl came to her, scared and desperate for an adult to listen to her. She gave her options and she listened, that is her responsibility to the girl as a principal and as a human being. Tami gets up and asks that they keep all this in mind while they make their decision, and effectively call
s the meeting to an end.
Commercials. Landry and Jess pull up in front of her house joking about Landry's mom's Obama gaffe. Landry quietly says that he sure didn't see Jess coming. She jokes that she knows, he hit her with his car. They smile at each other and she leans in to kiss Landry. Oh, I'm sorry to say this Landry, but this just isn't right between you.
At home, Tami struggles with a non-nap-wanting Gracie when the phone rings. It's Superintendent Paul telling her that the board voted 5-1 in her favor. Tami's shoulders collapse in relief, and Paul says that this is over, he just doesn't want it to get outside of the board. "This is the kind of thing some parents could go nuts about if they hear it out of context." Oh, dear. The foreshadowing.
Vince is at work at Ray's BBQ when Head Bad Guy comes in, telling him that he'll need him on Friday night. Vince protests that he has a game on Friday night, but Head Bad Guy reminds him that crime waits for no games. He tells him that he'll pick Vince up after the game. Meanwhile, Jess is snooping on the conversation. Head Bad Guy leaves, and Jess comes over muttering that she doesn't know why Vince even bothers talking to him. Vince lies that he's doing some extra work for him at the shop and Jess realizes why "Help pay for your mom?" She asks Vince if his mother's okay and he stops lying: "I don't know."
At the Cafferty's, Luke comes home to find his mother raging on the phone. "The school board votes and that's it? Well, not if I have anything to say about it." Luke tells her that this has to stop, that she should not have gone to see Becky. Luke's mom, hand on hip, growls that "A woman like that should not be in charge of children." Luke can't believe his mother is serious. He tells her that Principal Taylor didn't do anything, he's the one that got Becky pregnant, so why is she blaming Coach's wife. His mom spits, "Oh, Coach Taylor. Football. Is that all you care about?" She cries, "That was your child. That was my grandchild." NO IT WAS NOT LADY. This completely wrong-headed logic that equates a cluster of cells with "a child" drives me completely insane. Luke takes a second to compose himself and says that he's sorry, but his mom can't keep taking out her sorrow on Mrs. Taylor. He storms out, his mother yelling after him.
Tami sits at the table when Coach comes in, tired. She shares her good news that the board decided to keep her as principal. "Woo hoo!" she snarks. He asks how she feels about it, and she says that she's heartbroken that it happened, but happy to have her job. He asks what she's doing tonight -- "Nothing" -- and then tells her he'll go get the wine.
Carroll Park. Luke limps up to some bad looking dudes, and asks where he can get some Oxycontin. They ask how much he needs, and Luke too quickly assures them he's not a narc, he just needs some painkillers. He takes out his wallet and the guy shoos him away. Luke limps over to another guy and we cut over to Tinker who's hanging out there with his little brother, watching Luke with concern.
Buddy comes into Eric's office and asks him what's different about him. Coach can't and Buddy tells him: "I took the ring off. The Panther ring." Buddy says he was trying to see if he could last 48 hours without it. Buddy says that he loves the old Panthers, but doesn't love the new Panthers, and he can't wait for the Lions-Panthers game. Coach agrees, it'll be a good one. Buddy asks Coach what he thinks their real chances are. Coach tells him to buzz off, he's got a kick-off in four hours.
Jess goes to visit Vince's mom at rehab. Jess is gentle with her, telling her that Vince is proud of what his mother is doing. His mom says "He's a good boy, isn't he?" and Jess says that he is. Vince's mom breaks down into sobs and Jess hugs her. Later on, as Vince walks onto the field in uniform he catches sight of Jess in her dance uniform walking out, too. They exchange smiles, and poor Landry is just not going to be able to compete.
Julie's phone rings as she's walking down the hall. She slips into the empty cafeteria and answers. It's Matt. "What do you want?" Matt is at a gallery, but he snakes out to go stand outside in the cold, cold rain. Julie is silent for a while. Matt starts to stammer that he knows she's mad and he thinks he'd be mad, too, if that happened. Julie is like "Great, can I go now?" He tells her that he's in Chicago, has a job at an art gallery, and has an apartment. Julie: "Sounds like you've got everything worked out." Matt continues, kind of oblivious to the emotional storm that we can clearly see brewing in Julie, "That's just it. It doesn't feel right, cuz....cuz you're not here." Julie starts to cry a bit, "Well I'm glad I mean something to you. Just, not enough to call me until now." Matt tries to apologize, but it starts to really pale in the face of Julie's superior female powers of articulation: "Matt, we were together for almost four years. I know everything about you. You were my other half. I hate you so much for leaving me."
Cut to poor Matt, in Chicago, leaning his head on a chain-link fence, maybe just now realizing what he's done. She asks how he could do that to someone he loved and he mutters that he just felt that that was what he had to do. "Well," Julie says, "I have to do what I have to do. And if there's anything missing in your life? I suggest you go out and find it." Matt weakly protests, "Julie don't...." but she tells him goodbye and hangs up. Oh, it hurts. And what hurts most is that neither of them is really in the wrong. Matt needed to get out Dillon, to do something for himself, by himself. But Julie is right that the way things happened dishonored their relationship. But that's how, in my experience, those relationships often end. One person realizes that he or she needs to do something that is incompatible with the relationship; and it isn't really fair to think of that as selfish (in the way that an adult pursuing his own pleasure or satisfaction at the cost of a deep and true relationship might be) but just as the way it has to be if we believe (and I SO do) that teenagers can really love one another but also that teenagers should probably move beyond that love at some point.
Commercials. Lions locker room. The boys sit around, nervous and focused. Tinker sits down to Luke and tells him that he saw him at Carroll Park last night. Luke lies that he was nervous last night and couldn't sleep so took a drive around. Tinker's like "I heard you brought some cash with you." Tinker asks him what's going on; the first few weeks Luke was talking like an announcer in the huddle, last two weeks it's like he's saving his breath for something. Luke looks at him, obviously longing to share this with someone. He lifts his jersey and shows Tinker his bruise, to Tinker's horror. Luke tells Tinker that he can't tell anyone about it and walks away.
Game time. Lions are down 7-0. Vince runs a 27-option-left. Snap, toss to Luke, who runs it nicely, but at the prospect of getting tackled on his right side, instead chooses to step out of bounds. Coach yells at Luke as he walks back to the huddle, "Whadyou run out of bounds for?!" and calls the same play again. In the huddle, Vince calls the play, but Tinker speaks up: they can't run that play. He explains that Luke's right side is hurt, and running that play means him getting crushed on that side. Some weird voiceover asks "Luke how bad is it man, can you make it through this one play?" and Luke shakes his head and says it depends on which way they run. Vince calls a 28-option-right, much to Coach's severe chagrin once they snap. Luke makes a nice run, though, and is able to take some hits to his left side. Coach is pissed on the sidelines and calls Vince over. Vince covers by saying that he got the signals mixed up; back on the sidelines Traub and Coach are flabbergasted that he mixed up left and right, Coach snarks that they'll have to review that in practice he supposes. Back in the huddle, Vince calls 27-opt
ion-left like Coach has instructed him to. Luke runs the ball, gets hit, and is slow to get up. Coach calls the same play again from the sidelines. Luke runs it, takes a huge hit and is down. Poor Luke grunts and moans and rolls; Coach calls a time out and gets assisted off the field. On the bench, Luke finally tells one of the assistants what's going on, it's his hip, and he pulls up his jersey. Coach comes over and asks "What the hell is that?!?" Traub says it's a hip flexor and Luke'll be out for the rest of the season. Coach asks how long he's had it and Luke confesses, four weeks. Coach: "FOUR WEEKS?! YOU DID THAT FOUR WEEKS AGO AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?" Luke moans that he thought he could play through it, and then, Luke Cafferty special, apologizes for his own misguided bravery.
Tim comes home, and Becky invites him in to watch a movie with her in her skimpy pajamas. She wants to watch Thelma and Louise. Tim asks where her mom is, and Becky says she's working until 2. Tim doesn't think it's a good idea, and walks to his trailer but Becky ambushes him with "Please? I don't want to be alone." He turns around and comes back in, asking her if she's got any other movies.
Vince, Calvin, and Head Bad Guy drive up in front of a house, working out their game plan. Which is go in, beat some ass, get the money. Head Bad Guy decides to bring Calvin, since Vince is so bad at being the muscle.
Tim and Becky sprawl in bed. Becky's asleep, Tim's watching the end of Thelma and Louise. He mutters, "I think I'm moving out" but turns and sees that she's asleep. He gazes at her for a bit when Cheryl comes in and starts to freak out: "Oh, I do not believe this." Tim protests that it's not what she thinks, but she's like "In my bed, with my daughter, in the middle of the night? How long has this been going on?" Becky swears they were just watching a movie, but Cheryl is really flailing, sending Becky to her room and Tim out to get his stuff and get off her property. Tim wastes no time getting out of this crazy lady house, stalks out to his truck and throws a bag in it while Cheryl follows him and screeches at him about how he's actually exactly like what she first thought he was when she first met him. "You're nothing. You're just like ever other guy I've ever met in my entire life." Tim gets in his truck, quietly says "I never touched your daughter" while Cheryl keeps railing at him that he can buy land but he will never amount to anything. Tim looks straight at her and pulls out of the drive.
Vince chews his finger nervously waiting for them to come out when he hears a shout and turns just in time to see Calvin and Head Bad Guy running around the corner, Calvin trailing behind. Shots ring out and Calvin goes down, shot three or four times. Vince has hopped out of the car, but Head Bad Guy yells at him to get back in and get them out of there. They peel out, leaving Calvin behind.
Commercials. Tami is asleep on the couch when the phone rings. It's 11:30 p.m. She answers and it's a reporter from the Daily Gazette wanting comment on the allegations that she advised a student to get an abortion. She pauses, shocked, but says she has no comment and hangs up.
Tim is sleeping on the couch in Riggins Rigs when there's a knock at the door. He gets it and finds Becky there. She says she needs to talk to him. Tim says her mom will kill him and she says that it's fine, she passed out. Becky tells Tim that she knows he's moving out and that she won't be seeing him much anymore but that she wanted to tell him that the things her mother said to him are not true. "You're not a loser. And you're not nothin'. You're kind, you're good, and you're strong. You protected me from my dad. And you drove three hours all that way to that pageant. And you helped me through the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. And you were the only one there." You know, except Tami Taylor and the most excessively sweet teen boy (Luke Cafferty) ever. She thanks him and then gives him a hug and a kiss on the neck. "Bye Tim Riggins" and she turns to go, but not before exchanging some confusingly overly tender looks with Tim Riggins, White Knight of Dillon.
Coach sits with Buddy at a bar. Buddy can't believe they lost. The season's over. Luke's out. "We're done." Buddy says that they've got to go, it's late and Tami Taylor will kill him for keeping him out this late. But Coach doesn't move and tells Buddy to sit down and have another drink. "I don't want to go home yet." And the juxtaposition of Buddy noting that Tami wouldn't like them staying out that late, with the phrase that Coach utters about not wanting to go home (to the most loving home in America) with the fact that Tami is at home dealing with a potentially major situation, with the fact that Coach has just been hanging out in bars way more than he ever has before, with the fact that Coach seems completely adrift this season: I think there's a Coach storm a-brewing.
Cut to Tami, sitting along on their front step. Cut to Vince sitting alone in front of Jess's mailbox. Jess gets dropped off by a friend and asks him what he's doing there. He's silent and she crouches down to find Vince barely fighting back tears. He tells her that Calvin's dead and she grabs onto him tightly, letting him cry and cry.
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