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Coach Taylor is staging a fun fundraiser for new Lions uniforms (after he burnt the old ones). The team is pushing a car through the neighborhood to intimidate people into giving them money because they are large and scary and can push inanimate objects around. But no one is handing out cash, except Coach Taylor. Then the principal breaks it to him that he's not getting new uniforms, especially if he doesn't finish a game. Also, he lets Coach in on a little joke. Namely that Coach was never supposed to take the job at East Dillon. He's not supposed to be there.
After this heartbreaking bit of news, Coach Taylor gets a call from the uniform salesman (played by Joel from Parenthood). The uniforms are done. Coach has no choice but to pay with a personal check. Tami Taylor is a woman who knows her checkbook, and when she asks Coach about the missing check, he flat-out lies. After a few shots of liquid courage, Coach finally tells Tami the truth. She is not happy. Especially because they don't have $3,000 in their checking account. The day Coach apologizes, and Tami sighs that she is sorry that Coach is having such a hard time.
Julie is listening to "Rebel, Rebel" and is thisclose to painting her fingernails black and trying a clove cigarette. More troubling for Tami, though, is that Julie doesn't want to go to church with a bunch of hypocrites who hate her family because of the football. Tami spends some time proposing various hypothetical situations where Julie might pray, but to no avail. So Tami admits she just really likes having Julie sit to her, even if it's just for a little while longer. That's enough for Julie.
Riggins is struggling with adapting to his new life of dirty stepdad to latchkey kid Becky. But the little lady does catch the eye of Luke Cafferty. Riggins tries to pawn her off on Cafferty, and since Luke has the Riggins blessing, Becky's almost interested. Meanwhile, Landry gets put on punting practice, but he is having a hard time with the basics. Luckily, Jess has a deep understanding of punting and meditation and offers him some useful tips.
Matt Saracen is still working at his awesome unpaid metal shop internship. The Artist wants Matt to drive him the 200 miles to Clearwater and miss a pizza-delivering shift. After Julie reads some of the glowing reviews of The Artist's work, Matt is more interested, but, you know, the guy is a dick. He does offer Matt one glowing nugget of artistic wisdom: Be Selfish. Yeah, that sounds just like Matt Saracen. Then Matt takes Julie to work one day and The Artist calls her, "the ball and chain" that is keeping Matt down. Obviously this doesn't really lead her back to Jesus. Matt goes to yell at the guy, but he's passed out drunk, and then Matt is all wowed by The Artist's latest creation. He doesn't yell at The Artist, but instead seems to reconsider his stance on selfishness.
Buddy Garrity is getting a hard time from his so-called friends in the Boosters. Evil Joe McCoy is leading the attack, which is almost funny, considering he's only been a Panther for one year and Buddy's entire lifestyle choice is Panther. When Coach Taylor asks for fundraising help, Buddy says no. Later at a Booster party at McCoy's, some of the Boosters call Tami a bitch and laugh that McCoy is trying to have her removed as principal and Buddy snaps. He announces that he is no longer a Panther. He then calls McCoy a cancer and yells, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" as he walks off. Dying of pride here, Buddy!
Meanwhile, Luke Cafferty is having a hard time getting used to being a Lion. And Vince isn't really helping. Neither is Coach. When Luke comes to wipe the slate clean and apologizes to the Coach, instead of accepting the apology, Coach Taylor gives him a lecture on personal responsibility and accountability AND ignores him on the football field. Luke confides in Riggins, who tries to intercede with Coach, but to no avail. Coach wants Luke to stop whining and play harder. One person who does notice Luke's performance on the field? Vince. And he's not happy. After his fight with Tami, Coach drives out to Luke's farm and they have a man-to-man. Coach promises to do everything in his power to get Luke a scholarship to a good school to get him off the farm. In exchange, Luke has to lead.
On game day, Coach surprises the team with their new uniforms. The boys are so excited that you can tell Coach thinks it was all worth it. Out on the field, the Lions are down 27-nothing, but it's the end of the 4th quarter and at least the Lions are going to finish a damn game. Luke is playing his heart out, but Vince is screwing up left and right. When Luke intercepts a throw and runs for the touchdown, Vince fails to block and Luke goes down. Coach decides to try for the field goal and Landry is all ready to punt his way to glory, but the snap sucks and Landry can't kick it. He picks up the ball, tosses it to Vince and Vince scores! Lions have their first touchdown! Coach is not exactly thrilled, though. -- Lulu Bates
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Lulu Bates, a.k.a. Melissa Locker, doesn't know anything about football, but has watched every episode of Friday Night Lights. You can follow her on Twitter @woolyknickers.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!East Dillon. Some establishing shots of the shabby side of town. Coach has his players gathered and is giving them instructions about pushing a car and collecting money. "Be careful, don't get your feet run over." Tanker has a question: "Why are we pushing this damn car around?" Coach has two answers: don't swear, and shave whatever that is on your upper lip off before practice tomorrow. Then he tosses in a third answer for free: this is a "fun football fundraiser." Oh, that does not sound convincing. Especially so once Coach does that parental thing of instructing everyone to have fun. Nothing fun about getting told to have fun. Coach tells them that when the town comes out, money gets exchanged, that's a good thing. They come around behind their general and he tells them to be "kind and courteous out there" and they take off. Pushing the car. Which has helmets affixed to its grille, like this is Maximum Overdrive or something.
Meanwhile, Tami, Julie and Grace leave church while Tami remarks in a weird uptalking cadence that "Everyone in church is really not being nice to me? Over this Luke Cafferty thing?" Julie snarks that that sounds like the congregation: sweet and holy inside church, bitchy and judgmental outside. Tami welcomes her to the real world, but Julie insists that this isn't going to be her world, she isn't going to go to church with a bunch of hypocrites. Tami sighs as she puts Grace into her car seat and tells Julie that hypocrites are everywhere and that church is about "you and God." Julie quickly proposes to join the Church of Latter-Day Teen Fantasies: Worship-at-Home (i.e. Sleep-'Til-Noon) denomination. Tami tells her that church is also about community and family.
Back at the "fun fundraiser," the sun beats down on the boys as they push the car around and Staub keeps roaring like an imbecile. A scattering of people stand around putting bills into their proffered helmets. Tim runs up to Coach and tells him that he's "out of money." Coach expresses disbelief but then pulls out his wallet and hands Tim a hundred dollars -- Tim says that he's having a hard time because some people are just taking the money and walking away. Tim runs ahead to distribute the money so the kids won't get too disheartened.
Matt's at the Junkyard of Artistic Expression. He lugs some metal over to Richard, who's got a welding helmet on. Richard looks up and tells Matt that he has to drive him to Clearwater on Tuesday, because he needs to "finish this piece of crap." Matt wonders why he calls everything he works on "crap." Richard declares that everything is crap. Crap, crap, crap! The Mona Lisa is crap! All crap! I feel like I'm listening to a three year-old in one of those "poop poop butt" phases whenever this guy's on the screen. Matt tells Richard that he can't drive him two hundred miles on Tuesday because he has a shift. Richard yells that Matt is supposed to be there to learn about art, not spend his time delivering pizzas. Matt -- who is looking smoking in a plain grey T-shirt -- just sort of sighs and rolls his eyes at his abusive mentor.
Coach walks into school with the principal of East Dillon. Coach tells Levi that he burned the team's old uniforms and tries to sell him on why: "End the old cycle, start the new, get rid of the past, ya know?" Coach asks for just a little help from the school to cover the down payment on new uniforms. Levi stops and looks straight at Coach and tells him that he is not getting the financial situation. Coach complains that it's expensive to get a new football program off the ground, and Levi retorts that all that may be a little premature. Coach is confused, and Levi explains that if Coach can't finish games, he can't be throwing money at the program. What's more, this football program was never really supposed to get off the ground anyway. Coach is the only one who didn't get the joke: he was never supposed to even take the job. Yes, this high school, in WEST TEXAS, was considering not having a football program. I'm sure that was because they were hoping to build their Fine Arts department. This plot point stretches believability a bit. Sure -- Coach's job is on the line if he can't get his shit together and finish a game, but the entire football program?
Credits. Becky knocks on the door of the Airstream, calling out "Good morning!" I will take a moment while you rewind and replay the quick shot of Tim Riggins getting out of bed in his black boxer-briefs.
You all set? Okay. She's brought him toast, Tim is a bit confused as to how to take the gesture but doesn't even have a minute to think it over before she brightly suggests that since he's up, why doesn't he drive her to school? Before we cut to the scene, even the camera-person is taken with Tim Riggins's boy-shorts, as we get another full-length (ahem) shot, with a quick zoom-in on his figure. Okay then!
Tami is fixing Grace breakfast when Julie comes in. Tami starts a conversation with Julie about church, leaning over the kitchen bar and asking her if she feels that Tami and Eric are making her go to church. This is a nice intimate moment. Julie tells her that she doesn't feel coerced, just that church is like a tradition, and if her parents stopped going, she probably wouldn't go either. Tami just raises her eyebrows.
Applebee's. Booster meeting, headed by the Nefarious Joe McCoy (I can't even call him Guy Smiley anymore, he is just TOO nefarious!). The long shot doesn't show us Joe clearly, but we hear him making fun of Coach forfeiting the game: "We're done! We're beat up! We can't play anymore," laughing all the while. RAGE! This man is inspiring rage in me! You don't make fun of Coach Taylor! Buddy walks in and gets a very cool greeting. One of the good ole boys points out that Buddy wasn't at the game on Friday, and Buddy says he was sick and had to listen to it on the radio. Joe looks over his Reading Glasses of Smugness and wonders if Buddy wants to share anything with them -- you know, about a mailbox and an old buddy named Eric. Buddy plays dumb and then gets pissed. He suggests that this Luke deal has made everyone a little crazy. Close-ups on the various boosters, caught between their old leader and their new one. Buddy tries to pull rank and tells "Joe" -- he enunciates the name with complete snarky disgust -- that he was a Panther before any of them, and then tells Joe to get on with the agenda. Which, it turns out, is Joe scouting a 13-year-old boy. We end with a close-up of Buddy's face, realization dawning that the power dynamic has fundamentally shifted.
East Dillon locker room. All the boys are wearing regular street-clothes T-shirts stretched all tight over their pads. Aw! Vince looks at Luke, who is smiling like a goofball across the room, and asks his friends what Luke is so happy about. They joke that he thinks he's going to come in there and take charge. Tanker adds the useful tidbit that Luke is "All like, 'I'm a Panther'." They head out to practice. Vince waits for Luke to pass him and tries to intimidate the kid: "You a long way from home, boy." Luke just looks at him and says, "I guess so." Oh, this is going to be good.
Out on the field, Coach gives Vince a hard time, yelling at him that he spends half his day talking to him out on the field. Coach offhandedly tells Luke to go on defensive backs. Luke protests that he doesn't play defense, which causes Coach to get near his face and tell him that he plays where Coach tells him to play. Luke starts wandering off, and Coach tells him to hurry it up. Tim introduces himself to Luke and takes him down the field. Luke tries to make conversation with Tim -- going so far as to try to high-five him over winning State -- but Tim just stays laconic and sends him on his way to "DB it up." You know, my alias initials are "DB." Do you think Tim Riggins wants to "DB it up" himself?
Panther Pizza. Julie reads a review of Richard's art off her handheld. His exhibition in Austin is described as "mind-bending," "brilliant, visceral, and ultimately ethereal." Matt's face is worked up into a smirk of disbelief. Matt puts the pizzas in the back of his car -- which the camera shows us is dirty with old leaves and other schmutz, just like backs of cars always are. He can't make sense of the words "brilliant" and "ethereal" in relation to Richard, who he describes as "a angry, abusive idiot." Thank you, Zach Gilford, for not using the correct article in front of "angry" -- either your delivery is perfect for this character, or you were woefully miseducated at my alma mater Northwestern. Either way.
Coach is fixing the fluorescent light fixture in his office when a salesman comes into his office. The discuss how the new uniforms are coming along, Coach tells him that he knows that he's late on the payment. The salesman isn't putting the screws to him, and even tells him that the company, Under Armor, is doing all this at cost and throwing in hats and polos for the staff since Coach helped him out when he was starting off, but he is going to need some money to take back to Baltimore. Well, Mr. Salesman, you could have started by not spending the $700 it probably cost you to fly from Baltimore to West Texas. I jest. This is a nice, quiet moment, actually, where instead of the usual television-drama mean, rock-and-a-hard-place guy, you get a glimpse of how effective Coach's generous and committed mentoring is. But, no matter how strong their relationship, the salesman is going to need -- he pauses before saying the figure -- "Five." Coach is like, five thousand? And the salesman gives in and tells him that Coach can give him three thousand now and two on delivery. Coach opens his drawer and writes a check. He hands it over, and the salesman is like, "This is a personal check." Coach assures him it's "all right," and they shake hands, Coach looking at this guy walk out the door with one or two month's mortgage in his hands.
Commercials. Taylors are in their bedroom. Tami's putting on lipstick in the vanity mirror -- which is all smudged. I mean, do they have somebody actually living in this house when they aren't filming? Because it looks so wonderfully lived-in all the time. Tami is telling her husband that Julie is talking about not wanting to go to church anymore, "like she's questioning her faith or something." Eric tells her that Julie's a teenager, wait two weeks and she'll change her mind again. Tami's still worried, but Eric tells her that Julie isn't going to hell anytime soon. He exposits that he's going to meet with Buddy to get help on how to raise money from the boosters. As he gets up to leave, Tami asks if he wrote a check that he didn't put in the book, and Coach screws up his face in thinking (i.e. lying) and says that "Oh, yeah, it was for dry cleaning. Forty five dollars." Uh-oh. Tami plaintively tells him that he has to put those things "in the book. I can't keep track!"
Matt drives up to the Junkyard of Artistic Expression in his Taurus wagon. Richard hops in smoking a cigarette, and Matt complains that they're taking his car. Matt hopes that Richard is going to pay for gas, but Richard whines that he's teaching him the meaning of life, he shouldn't have to pay for gas, too. Then Richard complains that the car smells like old pizza. Matt: "Well, that's how I pay for gas." Matt Saracen! Look in front of you! You don't want to be an artist if it means being like this guy! Find your own row to hoe!
East Dillon locker room. Coach calls Landry into his office and says he'd like him to work with Special Teams. Landry gets excited about catching snaps, but Coach tells him that he wants him to practice kicking the ball. Then they start talking over one another very cutely, Landry stuttering about how he's never kicked the ball, he thinks of himself as "a hands man" and on and on, Coach exasperatedly repeating that he needs a punter and wants Landry to practice. Landry finally turns around with a "Yes, sir!" while Coach rubs his face. Luke knocks and asks if he can have a word with Coach. Luke says that he thinks that they got off on the wrong foot, and launches into a little speech about how he doesn't hold anything against Coach or his wife, and he's not there to give Coach a hard time, he's just there to play football. Coach is a better educator than I -- who, at the very whiff of sincerity like that, will quietly start weeping because they aren't all ungrateful jerks -- so Coach can listen to a sweet speech like that and still be like "And?" Coach clarifies that Luke doesn't even have anything to hold against him, and as far as his wife goes, his wife didn't cause Luke's problems, Luke caused his own problems. "You were doing something knowingly wrong, and you got caught. Why don't you take that responsibility." Luke quietly thanks him and walks out the door.
Junkyard of Artistic Expression, Clearwater. Matt and Richard load metal into the trunk. Matt asks Richard if when he looks at this old, rusty metal, whether he "sees something in it. Like, for your art?" Richard playacts -- spotting a piece of crinkled and cracked plexiglass or something on the ground, picking it up and holding it up to the sky, gazing upward, "Oh! Oh! I see the face of God!" Matt knows he's making fun of him and turns away. Richard is like "I don't know, man! You ask too many damn questions." Richard is a perfect example of a game I like to play in Brooklyn called "Hipster or Homeless Person?" Although Richard is taking it one step further because he looks like a homeless person from another era -- total hobo, this guy is.
Tim is brushing his teeth in the main house, and gets accosted by Becky on his way out. She wants to know whether she should wear the red or pink dress for her pageant. Tim says he isn't qualified to advise and wonders where her mother is. Working. At the bar. Where you picked her up for a one-night stand, Tim. Becky's pluck will not be, uh, deplucked, and she suggests that she try the dresses on for Tim to help him decide. He just says "I don't -- no" and heads straight for the door. Pink, for sure, he tells her, barely looking back. She looks after him longingly.
Matt and Richard are in a bar. Matt wants to head back, since all they're doing there is playing shuffleboard. Richard says that, alright, they can talk. So Matt asks him what he thinks is the most important tool an artist can have. Richard scoffs at the question again. Matt protests, "You said we should talk!" and Richard clarifies that what he meant was for Matt to talk about himself while Richard secretly mocks him in his head. Matt goes to settle up the tab and Richard comes around and sits to him. "Alright, the most important tool an artist can have is selfishness." Oh, not this masculinist bullshit. Seriously you guys. I CALL BULLSHIT ON THE ENTIRETY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART that follows this tenet. The artist must express himself, must live apart from the world. Go tell it to Thoreau. Who had Emerson's wife doing his laundry for him. So Richard continues: "If you are going to spend your life trying to express some quiet, dark corner deep, deep inside you, you will put aside love, God, life, in order to follow this craving." Richard's advice is "screw everybody else."
Coach and Buddy are also in a bar, Coach telling him that he needs to get some money together for the uniforms, stat. Eric doesn't know how to talk to the boosters, but Buddy does. Does East Dillon even have boosters? Eric can't be asking him to go to the Panther boosters. Well, in any case, Buddy can't do it: he's got Joe breathing down his neck. "They think I'm the one who told you about the mailbox." Eric reminds him that he is the one who told him about the mailbox, and Buddy says that he needs to "unknow" that fact. Which, heh. I like that line. Buddy thinks that he's maybe being followed, maybe his phone is bugged, these guys are crazy! Eric is like, yeah, they are crazy -- and then tells Buddy that the principal has threatened to shut down the entire football program. Buddy tells Eric that he just can't help; Eric gets up to leave, telling Buddy that he needs to polish his ring up a bit: "It's looking a bit tarnished."
Commercials. Julie's brushing her teeth, Tami and Grace hovering behind her. Julie's like "An earthquake? In West Texas?" Tami assures her that, sure "they have 'em!" Odessa's on a fault line! What would Julie do in that case, would she pray? Julie tells her that she would check on the family, and then she would stand under a doorway. But Tami pushes again: would you pray? Julie tells her that time there's an earthquake in West Texas, she'll let her mom know.
East Dillon practice. Luke makes huge tackle after huge tackle, but Coach doesn't pay any attention to him. Vince misses a catch and Coach yells at him, "You gotta make that play. You can't make that play, what are you out here for?" The coaches call the kids in, and Tim catches Luke off to the side and tells him he did a good job. But Luke wants to know why Coach isn't even looking at him. Tim tells him that Coach has a lot on his plate, he needs to just keep doing what he's doing. Luke thanks him for noticing when Becky, over by the fences, calls out to Tim that she'll see him later. Luke wants to know who that is -- she looks cute in her cowboy boots and plaid skirt -- and Tim tells him that he's renting a room from her mother, "that's it." Luke breaks into a smile and says "Wish I was renting a room from her mom." Tim just looks at him blankly and the kid apologizes, "Just joking." I really love their interaction -- Tim only two or three years older, but absolutely "man" to Luke's "young man."
Vince and Bad Gold Chain Kid play basketball. Vince is complaining about how Coach is always all over him on the field, yelling at him, pushing him, grabbing his jersey. This is the most we've heard Vince talk, and I like it. He says, of Coach, "that white boy sucks." He continues, angry that Coach is all up in his face, coming to his house, talking to his mom. Then he complains that Coach's brought this white kid Luke onto the team, who thinks he's going to take over. But it's Vince's team, he's the running back and so on. The great thing about this is how awesomely complicated these relationships are: Vince does not respond to the "great man" schtick Coach does with his players, he is completely critical of the paternalistic way Coach interacts with his players, but at the same time, he insists that he's a leader on this team. BGCK simplifies things a bit and tells Vince that white dudes stick up for white dudes -- Vince has to remember to "look out for us."
East Dillon locker room. Tim stands over Luke, who's doing crunches on the bench. Luke wants to know why Rigs doesn't wear his state ring, and then asks what it was like going to State. Tim sees where he's going and tells the kid to give the Lions a chance. Luke retorts, "Dude, be serious, this team is not the Dillon Panthers." Luke thinks that he's getting the backlash from Tami taking all the heat for making him switch teams, and that's why Coach has put him on defense. He wants to win State. Tim tells him he needs to just give it a chance and trust the coach. Cut to Tim grabbing Coach on his way out of the locker room. Coach is in shirt and tie and explains he's going to "drum up business from local business leaders in the form of cash." Improvised line? Kind of hilariously roundabout. Well, Tim tells him that he's been working with Luke and Luke is good, damn good. Tim beats around the bush a bit more and then is out with it: "He thinks you don't like him." Coach tells Tim that he doesn't have time for sensitivity training, and Luke needs to get over the idea that they're going to kiss his ass because he's gracing them with his presence. He's to show up, shut up and be worked hard.
Landry's out on the field practicing when Jess comes up with three little boys. They ask if they can play, but Landry says he's working on his punting. He tells them they can watch and hauls off and kicks the ball, which goes... nowhere really. Landry Charlie Brown! Jess and the boys giggle at him, one of the boys giving him the advice that "the ball's supposed to go straight." Jess gives him some pointers -- she tells him to keep his head down, his torso leaning forward, to point his toes, and to follow through. He tries her advice and! There the ball goes. Jess compliments herself, and Landry says that will never happen again, especially not when surrounded by thousands of screaming fans. The littlest boy wonders "What fans?" Isn't this scene just the preciousist? Jess tells the boys to go get the ball, and tells Landry that he just needs to keep practicing over and over, he'll develop the muscle memory. He needs to forget the fans, the big guys running at him and just let it go -- and here she closes her eyes and sort of waves her hands in front of her face, and Landry has obviously fallen immediately in love. He asks where she learned about football -- her father used to play football and almost went pro, but now he can't stand it. He asks where she learned so much about all that hand-wavey let it go stuff, "Did you study Buddhism?" She tells him that naw, naw, it's just her life, you know? The three little brothers, the obviously dead mother, et cetera.
Tami's working on the bills in the living room when Coach comes home. She asks how it went getting the boosters together. Coach slurrily tells her that he went to 12 businesses and found that they either don't know there's a football team or they don't care. I dont' understand how two miles away, everyone is rabid for football while over here nobody gives a shit. Can somebody explain? Coach confesses he stopped at the bar on the way home and had a friend drive him home. Tami gives him an exasperated "Alright." Then Coach really confesses: the check he wrote wasn't for dry cleaning, it was for gear for the team and it was for $3000. Tami gives him her brow furrow -- "We don't have $3000 in the checking account!" and they start getting into it. Not yelling, but speaking in a clipped manner to one another. Tami tells him that she knows he's having a hard time, but come on now. He snaps at her that if he didn't write the check, he wouldn't have a team, he's going to raise the money, they aren't going to actually pay it. Tami tells him to not raise his voice and he tells HER to stop getting all riled up. And THAT my friends, is where fights always go off the rails -- when you stop fighting about content and start fighting about the style in which you are fighting and who is more mad/yelly/riled up. Oh, is there anything worse than having your husband tell YOU that you are all riled up when it is clearly HIM that is? See? How easy it is to go to that place? Tami stands up and tells him that he writes this check, then lies to her about it, then comes in there and yells at her? "I don't think so" and walks away.
Commercials. The clock reads 2:02 and Coach is lying wide awake. The alarm goes off at 6:20 and Tami wakes to find Coach gone. He left her a note in the kitchen that says he went to pick up the car. "Love, Me!" Aw. Cut to Coach in the truck driving out to the Cafferty farm. Nice reason for them to never be able to move -- they run a farm. Luke's dad -- wearing a ridiculous floor-length cowboy duster coat -- brings Coach over to Luke who's tossing bales of hay around. He tells Coach Luke has a lot of work to do before school, Coach says he won't take long. Coach asks Luke if he'd like to talk about not being happy in practice. Luke tells him he just doesn't feel like he's being used, and he'd like a chance to play offense. Coach tells him that he'll get his chance, but he's got 18 other players, he can't put Luke up on a pedestal. Luke tells him that he's trying to "get out of here," he needs a scholarship, this is it for him. His parents don't care about football -- really? Uh, okay. "So I was on my fast track on the Panthers, we won't even talk about that now. I'm willing to kill myself to get out of here, Coach." He just wants a chance to play ball and get noticed. Coach tells him that he understands that Luke is better than most of the other players, and he understands what it's like to want to be a Panther -- "Believe me, that's not lost on me." Oh, the deferred dreams of Coach Taylor! Coach tells Luke that he will do everything in his power to get Luke a scholarship, if Luke does one thing for me: "I need you to lead." Luke readily acquiesces, and Coach says he just earned a slap on the back. Ooh, this is juicy. Why not go to Vince for a leader, Coach? Because Luke looks like the leader you need? The clash between the two players is being set up perfectly, and good for the show for exposing the way in which expectations shape outcomes.
God. Tim and stupid Becky some more. She thanks him for the ride and he asks if she has a boyfriend, because a boyfriend should be the one doing all this stuff for her. She giggles and says since Tim is already doing it, it'd be efficient if he were her boyfriend. She clearly is torn between wanting a father and wanting a boyfriend, and it's a little icky. Tim asks if she ever runs into Luke Cafferty and then tells her that Luke likes her. Tim neglects to pass her a note with boxes for her to check, "Like me like me" or "Just like me." She says she'll talk to him, but clearly isn't happy that Tim is suggesting boys other than himself for her.
East Dillon. Tami stops by Eric's office on the way home from work. He apologizes and she accepts. Coach tells her that Under Armor called and are just going to cash the two thousand they got from school (when? how?) and will wait on the other three. She nods and tells him to never do that again. He promises he won't and Tami shakes her head and says she's sorry he's having such a hard time. Taylors! Sticking together!
Joe McCoy's Playboy Grotto. Ew. The boosters are all gathered for a catered affair. I miss Janine Turner! Buddy hangs around two good ole boys who talk about how Luke Cafferty is about to be massacred in his first Lions game, "What a waste." They agree that one good thing will come out of the situation, and that is that Joe McCoy is gunning for Tami Taylor. Buddy snaps, "What are you talking about?" and the other says "Yeah, McCoy'll figure out a way to get that bitch out of there!" Yes, so we never have to look at a woman again, and always only hang out with men at Applebee's and suburban Playboy Grottos. Buddy storms away from any kind of "bitch" talk related to Tami Freaking Taylor. He ascends the steps that lead down into the grotto area they're in, and calls for everyone's attention. He says he hates to spoil the party, but he is not a Panther anymore. He doesn't know what these people believe in, but it's certainly not the Panthers they grew up with. Joe McCoy, wearing mirrored sunglasses, just looks on with closed mouth and GOD this guy looks so much like middle-aged exurban privilege, right down, probably, to his monogrammed grilling tools and Viagra prescription. Buddy tells them all that he's the one who told Eric about the mailbox; in fact, he's the one who PUT that mailbox in 12 years ago. It's his mailbox, he'll do whatever he wants with it. Then Buddy turns to Joe and says that ever since he got there, Joe's been a cancer to Buddy, to his friends, and to the team. "And just one more thing I want to say, is: Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." And with that, Buddy's out! Yes!
Matt and Julie pull up in front of the Junkyard of Artistic Expression. Matt exposits that he just has to go drop something off and heads into the house. He's wearing a suit, and Julie's got lipgloss on. Date night! Julie gets out and wanders around the yard looking at the "art." Richard is tucked around the side, sees her, and walks up and asks "Who the hell are you, little girl?" Ok, see: NO. She is not a "little girl" you masculinist prick. She introduces herself as Matt's girlfriend, and the drunk artist says "So you're the ball and chain that keeps dragging him down. I think I married you about 20 years ago, babes." Julie looks shocked and rushes back to the car. JULIE TAYLOR, do not fall for this kind of shit. Do not fall for it when the guy in the band, who you date in college, tells you that you just don't understand what it's like on tour and do not fall for it now, when this guy tells you that intimacy or domesticity is contrary to the artistic impulse.
Game night! The East Dillon Lions get off the bus, Tanker worries to Coach about what they're going to play in -- their practice clothes? Coach tells him to quit worrying, the boys file past people holding signs saying that the Lions are quitters. They get into the locker room to be greeted by... brand new uniforms! They whoop and holler like kids on Christmas morning, and it is heartwarming. They spend some time grinning and slapping each other on the back when Coach yells over them, telling them that these are still work clothes, so "let's go to work! Let's go to work!" They all start shouting and jumping up and down, psyched for the game.
Commercials. Matt and Julie are in a restaurant on their date. Matt is talking about how now that he's finally had a real conversation with Richard, he's realizing that he's a really interesting guy. Julie asks Matt if he thinks she's holding him back. Matt looks confused, and she tells him what Richard said to her about being Matt's ball and chain (another thing I love about this show: the script never relies on unearned drama that results from a character like Julie keeping Richard's comment to herself). Matt reaches out and touches Julie's arm and tells her that Richard is a jerk, and she's the most important thing in his life. Julie looks straight at him and says "Yeah, well what if that's the point?" Matt just stutters that Richard was probably drunk and tells Julie to eat her bean curd. She doesn't look convinced.
East Lion football game. They're in the fourth quarter, and the announcer tells us that the Lions are definitely going to finish. They're looking fresh and clean and not mortally wounded tonight, so good for them! The announcer exposits that if the Lions could just score, that would make a big difference for team morale. Luke's making huge hits but Vince is getting repeatedly smoked. In the huddle, Luke tells Vince to do something and Vince snaps "Who made you Coach?" With thirty seconds left in the game, the opposing team snaps and throws the ball right into Luke's hands. Interception! Tami gets super cutely excited in the stands as Luke runs for the endzone. He's almost there, Vince running ahead of him blocking, when Vince just puts the brakes on and lets a guy tackle Luke. Luke pops up and starts yelling at Vince, on the sidelines Coach's hair is very much like "Oh, no you didn't!" as he literally SCREAMS at Vince: "What was that? What was that?" Vince gets up in Coach's face, which sends Coach directly into the nuclear option: screaming at a kid while assuring that kid of his deep devotion to him. Coach, baring his teeth as he spits the words, tells Vince that he always picks on him because he's good, and he's his own worst enemy. Vince still shouts back at Coach, and this is when it really gets serious: when Coach stops shouting, moves his mouth right to Vince's ear and starts talking very quietly and firmly: don't you dare talk to me like that out here, you put that helmet back on, etc, etc. Vince snaps to attention, puts his helmet back on and says "Yes, sir!" which is not the most convincing turnaround in history, but whatever. The guys head back out onto the field as Coach calls Landry in for a field goal attempt. Hands man! Nine seconds left, and the snap goes bouncing around on the ground. Landry scrambles, picks it up and tosses it to Vince, who runs it down the field -- Tami-in-excited-disbelief reaction shot -- for a touchdown! Hooray! Principal Levi's on his feet cheering for his team, and the boys all celebrate in the endzone. Close-up on Coach in kind of numb disbelief.
Later that night, Julie's in bed reading when her mom comes in and sort of lies to her. Tami tells her that she does want Julie to come to church with her because it makes her feel like family and she likes how Julie sits to her. Tami tells her daughter that she thinks it's good that she's questioning her faith, that she just wants her to have faith in something, "something that can hold you, when I'm not gonna be able to hold you anymore." Tami sinks down to spoon her daughter and tells her that she's sorry, but she's always going to be her little girl. Julie's obviously got other things on her mind. What I have on my mind is that this is another Tami Taylor parenting moment that I need to bookmark for future consultation. God, this woman is THE BEST!
Matt walks into Richard's shed, preparing to yell at him. He can't find him at first, and looks around the moonlit studio a bit, looking up and seeing a finished sculpture Richard's been working on -- some kind of angelic figure hung up near the ceiling. The camera gives us shots of the work's beautiful texture, its thick hands and hammered skin, but mainly it's the soundtrack that tells us this is "art" for Matt. Interrupting his reverie, Richard lets out a snore from the corner where he's passed out. Richard says the thing Matt is looking at is a piece of crap, but Matt tells him that it's a beautiful piece of crap. Oh, dear. Not only do I find this story line kind of boring, but I also find it totally ideologically enraging! Bad combo there.
Tami gets into bed to Coach, who, lying with his eyes closed, tells her that he'll get the money together somehow. She's not worried, they turn the lights out and Tami tells him he should feel pretty good about getting all the way through a game, he should be able to sleep better now. Close on Coach's face, eyes looking into the darkness, unworried sleep still far away from him.
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