Texas whatever?! Oh, this penultimate episode finds everyone out of sorts. It's just about Christmas time, and lots of dear friends who left Dillon find their way back "home." Julie and Matt are back, Matt delivering a Christmas tree to Grandma Saracen, who still sits in her chair, tapping her foot and turning me into a puddle. She doesn't seem to realize it's Christmas, or even that her son, Matt's father, has died, but she knows her Matt and she clutches at him like she doesn't want him to ever go. (Not that that feeling is familiar to me or anything).
Who else is back in town, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. IT IS TYRA FREAKING COLLETTE. And she's here to help Tim out of his post-jail hate spiral. Tim, still filled with bitterness over going to jail in place of his brother, has declared that he's moving to Alaska. But when Tyra sashays into Buddy's bar, all long dark hair (intellectual!!!) and long, long legs, the two head straight for bed, and then out to his land for some morning-after gazing. "Alaska, Tim?" Tyra asks incredulously, and we know that Tim is going to stay, our anchor in this town we love but are going to be forced to leave behind.
Meanwhile, the big decision re: the fate of the Lions football program hangs in the balance. Though this is a State Championship-bound football team, the fact remains that the Panthers have that freaking Jumbotron and those sleek blue uniforms (those colors we used to rally behind now so seamlessly symbolic of money, privilege, and bullying). The School Board votes to eliminate the Lions program, and it makes sense because it is totally unfair. Money begets more money is what the Book of Genesis says, right? The town has gathered together to hear the news and the minute it is announced Coach beelines it for Vince, telling him that year he will be the star quarterback of the Dillon Panthers, and he will shine. Whatever happened to J.D. McCoy? Oh, well. But there are winners and losers in situations like this, and though Vince will keep on keeping on as star quarterback, Jess (who gets smoochy again with Vince) is being moved to Dallas now that her father's incredibly time-consuming barbecue franchise is up and running, and so presumably her dreams of learning how to coach high school football at the feet of the greats are crushed. And Luke, after being recruited by a real Division 3 school in Arkansas, realizes that this is the end. He has the heartbreaking realization that his small town successes will only wither and die if he tries to transplant them, and so the State Championship game will be his last game of football.
But the true and literally heart breaking center of this episode are the cracks traveling across Tami and Eric's relationship like a frozen pond in spring. Tami wants to take the job in Philadelphia, and she reminds her husband that she has moved many, many times over their 18 year marriage for his job. Now it's her turn. Coach just refuses to talk about it with her, so distracted is he with preparing for State and managing the knowledge that Buddy has told him that he will have the position of Super Coach for the Super Team they develop in Dillon year. Coach wants to stay in Dillon, he wants that job, but you can also see behind his eyes, and a little bit in his hair, that he realizes he is in the wrong. But the thing is, even I feel like, YES PLEASE STAY IN DILLON, because how can I go on with my life if Coach and Tami Taylor are not there? And I know Tami is right, but this is the way place and home works -- it draws you back and sucks you in and even though we all pride ourselves for getting away from our home towns, wouldn't it be kind of wonderful if we all could have stayed and nothing ever changed?
Tami comes home in a cab (from Philadelphia, where she had a job interview) late at night. Eric is snoozing on the couch when she gets in. They hug very sweetly and she whispers into his neck that she can't wait to tell him about her trip. What, there was no telephone in her room in Philadelphia? But Julie appears in the hallway just beyond them and Coach interrupts Tami to tell her that he has a surprise for her. Tami turns around and sees her daughter and nearly shrieks with joy but remembers to shush to not wake up Gracie. Tami is surprised because Julie isn't supposed to be back for another week. But never fear, Julie goes to Burleson College, an apparently low-residency program. She "finished up finals early," which, well, to be honest, if she is going to be an English major (like her interest in Moby Dick in the very first episode indicated), she'll pretty much never have to take an actual final exam.
Cut over to the Airstream of SHIRTLESS AND AGITATED TIM RIGGINS. He bust open the door of the trailer from the inside, chucks his mattress outside and comes flinging out with no shirt on, panting hot. Nightmare? Night sweats? What is it? Tim Riggins, I will help you if you will only just let me.
Over at East Dillon, masses of news trucks are gathering and driving all over the fields. Levi shouts at them to quit it, but Coach Taylor just chuckles as he rolls up in his SUV, "It's State, Levi, get used to it!"
The Lions hang out in front of "City Market" trying to rally folks to come to the School Board meeting and voice their support for the Lions football program. Luke tries to chat up a woman with a child, she rattles off some Spanish at him, and he responds with a sweet gringo-style "Amiga! Amiga!" She walks away and Luke, inspired like only a teenaged boy can be, tells Vince in a tone of wonder that what they need is a babysitter! All these women are moms, and they need someone to watch their kids....while they head over to the School Board meeting to support the team. Awww. Luke. As if that is the first or last place a tired mother would go given a free night of babysitting. Vince thinks this idea is aces, though, and asks Jess if she knows someone who can babysit. She looks them up and down, calls them "two pretty ladies" and then in a fantastically no-nonsense voice says "Learn how to nurse a baby. Get some milk. It ain't hard." Vince changes the subject, asking if Luke will come with him to hand out flyers across town but Luke can't. Coach has set up a recruiting meeting for him, with "Warrenfield State." Luke is already full of stuttering rationales for this "D3 school, trying to put together a good team." Oh dear, downward mobility.
Mindy gets her belly lubed up to get a glimpse of the baby. Nacho Riggins gets excited and gives her a kiss, but just about then, the sonographer is like hold up a minute. Which is, like, NOT what you want to hear in this situation. She moves the wand around and tells them "Oh! Congratulations! You're having twins!" Billy stands up and shouts in excitement, while Mindy's jaw just drops, unable to be quite as enthusiastic. Because, damn, twins is a tough prospect. Tougher pregnancy, tougher delivery, complete and utter batshit insanity for like four years afterward.
Tami comes into Coach's office and he's surprised to see her. But she just couldn't wait to talk to him any longer. I am so not believing that any married couple would be SO busy as to not be able to have a phone conversation, or a conversation before bed about Tami's potentially life-changing job offer. But let's let it slide. So, she tells her husband that she's been offered the position of Dean of Admissions. She clarifies that the plan is that they are replacing Dean Humorless with her. Which, again: no. If there is one place it is VERY DIFFICULT to get fired at, it is a university. So that guy would never be just "replaced" by Tami Taylor, no matter how much we want Tami Taylor to win at everything. Coach is stunned and Tami just quickly comes out and says it: "I'd like to do it." Coach is like, "Uh, that's in Philadelphia." Tami quietly nods and says "I know, I know." Coach: "That's a long commute." Tami: "Well, we'd have to move to Philadelphia." Coach: "....We live in Texas. Texas is where I work. Texas is where my job is." Tami quietly and rather serenely tells him that she knows all this, but this is a great opportunity and also an opportunity for them to think about how they make decisions for their family. Not to mention, the timing is good with the potentially imminent dissolution of the East Dillon football program. She just wants to talk about it. But Coach just punches the Emergency Eject button in his mind, "I don't want to talk about this, I can't talk about this." Tami looks straight at him, eyes watering a bit, and asks how many times they've moved before for his job. Coach just stares at her, total static misfiring "does not compute" synapses in his brain.
Credits. Tim Riggins is working at Buddy's bar when Billy walks in. Tim ignores him, until he can't any longer. Billy begs him to come home, Tim tells him that he's moving to Alaska to work the pipeline once his parole is up. Billy is like "You're gonna freeze your ass off!" and wonders if Tim saw a stupid infomercial that gave him this idea. Tim says that some guy came to talk to them in prison about the opportunities in Alaska. Billy sputters and spits about this prospect. "What are you gonna do with your land?" Tim says he's selling it. Billy, incredulous, "You're gonna sell your land and just leave Texas?" Tim, matter-of-fact (and breaking all of our hearts in the process -- I mean what is Texas without Tim Riggins?!): "Yes."
Jess struggles with the washing machine in the locker room when Vince comes in. He easily shuts the door and Jess, walks off to the side and starts muttering sadly about how she finally found a coach willing to take her under his wing, someone who didn't laugh at her aspiration to coach football just because she is female, and now all that is in jeopardy along with the East Dillon football team. "They gonna take it all away. If the Lions are done, then I'm done." Vince tells her that he won't let it happen and they share a glance.
Luke meets with a couple of recruiters who "mmm mmm" over the pudding at the wood-panelled diner they're at. And Luke obviously shares my distaste for the way older men seem to develop a sweet tooth, and not only that, spend a lot of time talking about their sweet tooth and how much they enjoy their dessert, tapping their fingers together mischievously with a twinkle in their eye. Damn, there are so just many ways for men to be so creepily off-putting. This pudding thing is one of them. Luke watches them with keen and judging eyes. They talk to him about their program. Most of their games are played in Arkansas, but once a year they get to get on a bus and play in... Oklahoma!!! Most of the players also play another sport. Oak Bluff is a great little town with a lot of heart. They just got a Costco last year! "Do you like to go fishing?" Luke: "Yeah, uh, I probably do." Luke recoils from this vision of his future -- fishin', pudding, Costco on Friday nights -- and it is heartbreaking to watch, but I guess better sooner rather than later, right?
The Lions rush out of the locker room while Coach gets interviewed. The reporter asks if he's worried about Vince Howard taking on too much, leading the team and keeping them from being distracted by all the politicking. Coach tells her that he's not worried, Vince is doing what he's supposed to do, and that the thing about Vince Howard is that they haven't even scratched the surface of what he can do. Coach Taylor is already lobbying for Vince's place on the new football team should the Lions get canned. Coach leaves the interview and catches Luke for a second, asking him how the recruiting session went. Luke: "Good, it went good." Coach tries to coax more information out of him, and Luke slowly warms up to forming the words he's supposed to form. They had a nice breakfast, they're nice guys, passionate about the program and passionate about him. "That's really all you can ask for, right?" Which: ouch. My heart. Coach lets him off at this, and watches him go, obviously wondering what is really going on in Luke's head. And I sort of love how the show is taking this time to acknowledge that Coach can't help every single kid, he can't single-handedly pluck them out of whatever morass they are in and gently place them in a better position. Coach can take them only so far. They are on their own.
Small table-top Christmas tree on Buddy's kitchen counter indicates what time of year it is. He's frying up something for dinner, listening to the radio, where a caller can't believe there's even a question of which Dillon football program will survive. West Dillon has a Jumbotron for God's sake!! There's a knock at the door and Buddy goes to find someone dressed in Panther blue on his doorstep. The guy stops Buddy from protesting his presence and launches into what he has to say: it's pretty clear that there will be no Lions year, and the Panther boosters want Buddy back at the head of the table. Dillon is a Panthers town, changes are coming, they need someone to be able to handle Vince Howard, they'll be waiting on Buddy. He turns to leave, Buddy starts mulling things over.
At the bar, Riggins is getting harassed by customers complaining about waiting too long for their drinks. One of the guys calls Riggins "jail bird" and Riggins, his biceps bulging and on view in his Williamsburg-style gaping-arm-hole tank-top, leans across the bar and takes the man by the collar. If he calls him that one more time, "I swear, I will end you." Just when Tim is about to disappear into the sea of stentorious seriousness that is his inner life right now, we hear a female voice call out "I been waitin' for five minutes for my drink." Tim cocks his ear like a lost puppy and then turns his head and we see, we all see... TYRA COLLETTE! All college intellectual now with her long brown hair. "Hey there, jailbird" she coos as she walks toward him on those long, long legs. And no way can Tim keep hating the world when Tyra Collette is there in front of him.
Tami is sitting at the table when Coach comes in after a long day. He tells her that he's sorry, he's having a hard time wrapping his mind around this whole thing. He tells her that he knows how much she wants this, and how much this means to her. She quietly nods and tells him she appreciates that. But then Coach: "I am sorry, we've got an obvious problem here." Tami says she doesn't think this is necessarily a problem, since Coach might be out of a job, so maybe this is a blessing and a good income. Coach gets defensive, "So you are rooting against us?" Tami takes this opportunity to get real savvy, pretending to be confused as to who this "us" is. Coach clarifies, "My team" and Tami snarkily is like "Oh, of course, the Lions I should've known. I didn't know if you mean 'us, you and I', or 'us, the Lions'." She reminds him that she has been a coach's wife for eighteen years and that every decision they've made has been for his career. And now she has this opportunity, and this is not just about her, but it's about their family, a decision they are going to need to make for their family. "Can't we even have this conversation?" And Coach? Gets up and leaves. You guys! I don't like it when our parents fight!!!
Commercials. Tim and Tyra sit outside the bar drinking a beer, sitting on the picnic table. She tells him that Mindy is mad because she doesn't come home to see Stevie much (thus reminding us all that Mindy Riggins was originally Ole Sis, older sister of Tyra Collette). Tyra says she doesn't like coming home, but mentions that she'll probably be around a bunch once Mindy has the twins. Tim: "Twins?" Tyra is surprised that Billy didn't mention it and Tim clarifies that he hasn't been talking much to Billy. Tim gets up to clock back in and tells her that it was good seeing her, and thanks her for writing while he was in jail. She asks if Billy didn't come see him, and Tim, as he is about to go through the door back into the bar, tells her that Billy came to visit, "Took real good care of me." Long shot of Tyra "Legs" Collette sitting on the picnic bench. Seriously, her stems are like arachnid or something.
Mindy sits up in bed crying in the early morning. She sobs about how Stevie won't even know her because she'll be so knee deep in all this infant-toddler crap, and also they don't have any place for Stevie, so they'll "have to put him in the tent, then we'll have to live in the tent because we can't afford anything." I really like this "tent" theory. Billy tells her that no one is going to be living in a tent. They have a three-bedroom house. He tells her that he'll be coaching again year (she's not so sure), he'll take care of her (she's more sure of this). He kisses her on the forehead and she settles down. Ah, Nacho!
Out on the practice field, Coach gives them good feedback on their practice and sends them off. Buddy shows up and tells the kids they look like State Champions. Buddy takes Coach aside and asks him if he's thought about what will happen if "things don't go our way." Coach stonewalls him, saying that he's assuming that things will go their way. Buddy is more realistic, and he tells Coach that what he thinks will happen is that they are going to take the best of the Panthers and the Lions and "create a Super Team." And he wants Coach to think about what they could do if they had the financial resources of Dillon behind them. Coach plays honorably dumb, "I think Mac would do a great job" -- Mac, his friend and apparently head coach of the Panthers. (Nobody ever did address what happened to J.D. McCoy and the McCoy machine over in West Dillon). But Buddy cuts to the chase, "Well, I don't think they're even going to consider Mac and I think you know that." Coach looks away, scratches his neck nervously, and leaves to go pick up Gracie.
At the Collette Playboy Ranch, Angela Collette presides over a family gathering by putting the screws to Billy. What is he planning on doing for money with all these kids. Billy, mouth full of mashed potatoes from the plate resting on a TV TRAY in front of him, tells her that he'll be coaching for money. Angela wonders because she's been listening to the radio-- and Billy interrupts her, telling her to not listen to the radio, that there's no way a State Champion team will be dissolved. Billy, so naive. Becky pipes up and says that Luke says the Lions defense is unstoppable. Angela is like "Who's Luke?" obviously wondering what authority any of these doofuses have over ensuring that her grandkid doesn't end up living back in her house if Billy ends up unemployed. Tyra, trying to change the subject, mentions that she saw Tim last night. Billy wonders if he told her of his plans to move to Alaska. Tyra's smile falls and she's like "What?!" Becky also stares in disbelief at this news. Billy says that he doesn't think it'll happen, the kid loves Texas, he's just having a hard time readjusting. Tyra narrows her eyes, clearly realizing that she has a helpful Readjustment Bureau... in her pants!!
Julie drives up to Grandma Saracen's house in the rain. Matt's Number Seven Panther's sign hangs haphazardly in the front lawn still. This house still has the power to just knock me speechless. The camera moves around the outside of the house, peeling paint, old and disheveled Christmas wreath on the door. Julie sits in her car looking at it, thinking about home and entrapment and love and community.
Becky drives up to Luke's house at night. He's out back fixing a fence, forearms glistening in the hot night air. Now it is hot and summertime here in NYC so I appreciate these scenes of teens sweating in the night air... but it is Christmas-time, and even Texas isn't usually that hot at night at that time of year. Becky clearly has her speech rehearsed. She wants Luke to put the wrench down and listen to her. He drops it but complains that he is working. She launches into her story, she tells him that he has no idea how lonely she was living with her mother. She always felt like she was in the way. But then Tim moved in and he talked to her, and was a friend to her, and helped her, and was there for her when all that shit went down between her and Luke. "So, yeah, I loved him for that, and I put him on a pedestal for that. But that's not real. You are." Luke is not swayed by Becky's dramatic retelling of her crush on Tim Riggins. Also, it probably doesn't feel too good to be told that another man is your girl's fantasy, even if she's saying you are her reality. Who wants to be reality? Although it is true that early in our courtship, my husband told me that he loved me because I was practical, competent, and some other thing, and now look where we are! Happily in love, sitting to one another on the couch (recliners are , baby!). Luke tells her that what she just said "was real pretty, you should put that in a poem." She scoffs and then stomps off, yelling at him to go to hell.
School Board meeting. Total chaos! This makes me never want to have anything to do with civic governance ever!! The chair gets everyone to quiet down so that one woman has the floor. She says her piece, about how the budget crisis is temporary, so they should support the team who needs the money, since the other team gets all it's funding from booster money. This gets everyone all riled up again, folks are standing on chairs, one lady is shouting about how most of the people on "this side of town" happen to own their houses. Oooh, burn. Everyone is yelling yelling yelling, the Lions side of the aisle (including all the assistant coaches, who are never as classy as Coach) start chanting "State! State! State! State!" lots of pointing and nonsense, while the kids who are there -- Vince, Jess, Hastings, Buddy, Jr. -- just look at one another in confusion over why these adults are acting such fools.
Commercials. Billy drives down the road while working out a script on a piece of paper held up to the steering wheel. Even dangerous driving is quaint in this town -- no texting? So he talks to himself out loud as he composes his speech: "Concerns about my financial future lead me to ask about my position in the football landscape season." He drifts into the other lane for a moment and almost gets hit head on. He quickly rights the car and then we cut over to him in Coach's office reciting his little "football landscape" line. Coach's hair is like "Son, now did you work real hard on this composition here?" and then decides to answer Billy in his own language: "Football landscapes's a little blurry right now." Billy reminds him that he's got twins on the way and Coach tells him that he wishes he could be more definitive, but he can't right now. Billy backs out of his office.
Over at Buddy's, Luke sits down and orders a cheeseburger and a coke from Tim. Tim asks "Anything else?" and Luke asks right out whether Tim is in love with Becky. Tim is like "Are you serious?" and then tells him that no, he is not. He cares about her and has been there for her, but he's not in love with her. "Any other questions?" Luke pauses and when Tim asks "Are you sure" he comes out with it. Luke asks if he's ever heard of Warrenfield State. Tim says he has not and asks why. Luke explains that he's being recruited by them. Tim says congratulations, but Luke explains that even though he loves football more than anything, this school is not giving him that feeling. Tim sits down and offers some advice. "You're going to State right? Nothing is going to be bigger than that. Play it that way. Play it like it's the last time you're ever going to lace up. Then let it go. And move on. That's my advice." And that is damn good advice there. Let something be beautiful, and then let it be done.
The School Board President sits at his desk when Vince and Jess get waved in. The President looks completely exhausted. Vince says they are not there to argue or yell (the President says this will be refreshing), they just want to say their piece. Vince tells him that before football he was headed straight to juvie. Football has changed his life. He has a coach that is like a father to him, who gives 110% at every practice and game. "It's more than just a game to us, football is our life." The President thanks him and tells him that this has been the best part of his day. Jess has just sat quietly, eyes watering up a bit.
Tim and Tyra sit out on lawn chairs by his trailer, looking out over the windswept grasses. Tyra boils it down, he's basically squatting there, in a trailer that isn't his, planning to move to Alaska, and not talking to his brother. "Was it really that bad?" "If you're asking whether I was raped in prison, Tyra, the answer is no." Oh, Tim. Tyra doesn't take the bait, though, and asks him what the hell is going on with him. So Tim finally comes clean to someone. He tells her that Billy started the chop shop, that he had nothing to do with it, though they made it seem like he had everything to do with it. Tyra rouses up a bit and turns toward him, "Wait! So you're saying..." and Tim fills it in for her. He went to prison for Billy. Tyra asks why and Tim explains that it was because Billy had a son, a wife, a family. He wanted to give Stevie his father. Tyra looks at Tim Riggins, starting to realize that maybe he's not just having a tantrum, he's really having a hard time, emotionally, and maybe for good reason.
Tami sits and drinks some wine at the kitchen bar. Julie comes in, catching her mother kind of tearing up. Julie wonders why Tami isn't with Coach at the meeting and Tami tells her that her father wanted to go on his own. STOP FIGHTING MOM AND DAD!!! Julie asks what Tami is hoping for from the School Board decision, and Tami tells her that she wants to Lions to be spared and she hopes that she gets to be Dean of Admissions. She sort of sighs, knowing that what she wants is impossible. They sit quietly for a minute before Tami says the thing no kid ever wants to hear: "You know your father and I love each other very much, right?" and Julie now suddenly realizes that some shit is going down between her parents. "Yeah" she says quietly.
And just in case you weren't crying, we cut over to a crowd gathered together to hear the School Board announcement. "Devil Town" plays on the soundtrack, which we have heard many different times on this show, the song a sort of fabric that wraps up an entire town as its kids take on weighty expectations, while still showing golden and beautiful in late afternoon light. Tonight, everyone gathers once again, blue mixing with red, everyone talking and being a part of something together. But this time, the song is sad, this really is a Devil Town, a place that takes and doesn't really give, and so when the President comes out and makes his announcement-- that year there will be one football program and that will be the Dillon Panthers -- everyone just cracks down the middle a bit. Half of the crowd erupts, the camera zooms in on Coach Taylor standing alone (as Coaches must, men apart) in the back of the crowd. Shots of fallen faces in the crowd -- Jess, Buddy, Vince. The latter goes after Coach as the man walks away, but doesn't know exactly what to say once he gets to him. But no worries, because Coach does know what to say: "Let me tell you something. You are going to be the star quarterback of the Dillon Panthers year. And you are gonna shine." Vince, hurt face, throws his arms around Coach, who smiles tenderly, his emotion checked the minute he is called upon to be strong for someone else. Coach heads to his car, where Buddy is waiting in the passenger seat. "We need to talk" he says, and Coach just looks at him, hair suspended in shock for the moment.
Tim mops up the floor at Buddy's when Tyra comes in. She tells him that she can't imagine how much he had to love Billy to do what he did for him. "Just make sure you're ready to lose him." Billy always believed in Tim, even when most people didn't. He listens to her quietly but doesn't say anything and she turns to leave. Cut outside, where Tim goes after her. He says her name, and then reaches out and cups her neck with his hand. She looks at him, knowing they probably shouldn't do this, but totally committed to doing this anyway. "Don't go" he says, "Please don't go." And then they start making out. And it's like so fascinating, because it has such a different feel from when they were together as high schoolers and Tyra was obviously this girl who thought of herself as trash and Tim was just in a hot-boy beer haze all the time and now they are like not nobel laureates or anything but they are like people with life and experience in their back pocket and that makes their making out EVEN HOTTER (even though it was pretty hot when they would go at it in the storeroom or whatever, remember that one time? With Tyra and her boots and short skirt all hitched up?).
Coach comes home, his hair a mix of triumph and defeat, like it's saying "I'm the king of this world I don't really believe in." He sits down and tells Tami, who is up on the coach under a blanket, that "it's not the Lions." She tells him that she knows, she heard, and she apologizes. Then he exhaustedly tells her that they want him to coach the new team -- "What new team?" Tami asks -- and he explains the super team to her, all "poor me" about it. She leans forward and lays it down for him: "I'm gonna say to you, what you haven't had the grace to say to me. Congratulations, Eric." Then she takes her boots and walks out of the house. This story line is giving me whatever the present form of PTSD is. Current Traumatic Stress Disorder? It's making me all palpitate-y, I do not LIKE it when they fight for real like this.
Commercials. As if someone heard me crying out in the wilderness with sadness about Coach and Tami, we open on Tyra and Tim, all bare limbs and languidness in his Airstream the morning after. Tyra tells him to wake up and take her out to his land. Bed your man, then go look at his land. This is some primal shit I can get into! The camera pulls back and we see Tyra lying on top of Tim kind of shaking him awake-- like she does in the very first scene she appears in. These last few episodes are really rewarding the long-time viewer with all these callbacks.
Jess is in Coach's office when Vince comes in. Vince talks a bit about how it feels like everything they work for is disappearing. He asks, "What about you and me?" She thanks him for how hard he tried, and he apologizes to her for losing himself and acting like a jerk to her. She tells him that he's got some stuff in him that she loves, "but then you got some other stuff that comes out, and it hurts." Wow. I'm not even joking, I feel like that is wise. He goes over to her and asks if he can promise that that guy won't come back anymore. She tells him he's got two strikes against him already (that's right, they had a prehistory that we never really did hear anything about), and Vince cleverly answers "Jess, I was born with two strikes against me." She hugs him and looks like Jess and Vince are back together.
Tim and Tyra, bathed in some ridiculous light, lean against his truck and look out over his field. And please recall the scene when they broke up at the edge of a field like this, two kids certain that they weren't worth much and treating one another (and themselves) accordingly. Now Tyra just lets the landscape do its healing work and then turns to Tim and asks, "Alaska, Tim? Really?" He doesn't answer because he doesn't have to. He's never going to leave this place, and this is a wonderful thing.
Cut over to Grandma Saracen's slippered foot, tapping on the ground, and here is where I just about have a heartattack. The foot! The slippers! The floor that I always in my mind picture as linoleum, but which is actually carpeted, but I don't care because YOU GUYS THAT FOOT. So she sits in her rocker, a nurse sitting on the couch across from her, when there's a knock at the door. Matt comes in and she looks at him blankly for a minute. "Who is it?" He smiles and reminds her, "It's me, it's Matt" and then her brain catches up, "Matthew?!" He's got a big Christmas tree with him and Grandma starts shouting for joy. She's surprised and excited and she wants to know if he told his father that he was coming home. Matt pauses for a minute, reminded of his dead father that his Grandmother, in her fog, has been able to reanimate, and then he kindly just tells her that he didn't tell anyone he was home, she's the only one who knows. She grasps his cheek, and then hugs him, putting her head on his shoulder like a child does to its parent. And then I just die.
Tami answers a knock at the door to find Buddy and a bunch of guys dressed in blue. They ask to talk with Eric and she just sort of politely but slightly coldly points them in his direction. Eric invites the men in, they file down the hallway and Tami turns to her husband and says, quietly, "Eighteen years" before heading back toward the kitchen, happily asking if she can get them anything. Suddenly, we all realize that nobody has asked Tami if they can get anything for her in far too long.