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Let me start at the end and say that I didn't even know how much I missed the "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" catchphrase until Coach Taylor tries to get his new team in Philadelphia to chant it with him. Yes, the Taylors leave Dillon, TX, which is so tremendously right and wrong that I barely even know what to say. But like the famous catchphrase, the Taylors perhaps will also be revivified by a new setting. They will not allow themselves to grow stale or comfortable. But damn, Dillon, TX without the Taylors? One can barely even imagine it.
And it wasn't an easy decision. Things got worse between Eric and Tami before they got better, because I think just like me, Coach Taylor's imagination just ran up against a brick wall when he tried to think himself out of Texas. But he realized what it would mean, long term, for his marriage, if he asked Tami for yet another sacrifice without offering something in return, turned down the position as Coach of the SuperTeam Dillon Panthers, and headed north. I hope they know where to buy winter coats! And boots! Cowboy boots actually don't work so great in the snow, Tami!
Bringing the Taylors closer together even before Coach made his decision was Matt Saracen's proposal-- yes, you read that correctly-- proposal to Julie. He got on bended knee in front of the Alamo Freeze, and pretty much every marriage proposal ever going forward forthwith can just forget about trying to be the most uniquely romantic, because Matt Saracen just locked that romance shit down. Julie says yes immediately, which gave me palpitations, because she is eighteen, but when she tells Matt that he has to go back and retroactively ask Coach "permission" I'm relieved and know SOMEBODY is going to throw his body in front of this misguided romance train. And Coach does, literally laughing in Matt's face, before Tami steps in and suggests the four of them go out for dinner and have a conversation about all this. During which Matt and Julie kind of convince the still-feuding Taylors that their love is true (which it is), that they aren't planning on getting married right away, and that Julie is just going to be that weird girl at college with a fiancé (you know the one).
Meanwhile, Tyra has successfully, with the power of her ahem, convinced Tim Riggins that it is Texas Forever for him and always has been. Alaska, Tim? Really?! She's not dropping out of college and coming back to live with him or anything, but the door is left open for a relationship in the future, and as they sit in chairs, looking over his land, nobody is complaining about that OR about the hypothetical babies they might produce because COME ON with that!
And, finally, the small question of the East Dillon Lions and the State Championship. It's a tough game and victory is not assured, and it all comes down to a final play that features Vince cocking back his arm and throwing the ball, the camera following its spiral through the black, black night and.....cut away. Because it doesn't really matter what the score is in the end. It's enough to cut a few months forward, where we glimpse on the hands of Vince, Tinker, Luke, their championship rings, showing us that they won, but also showing us that they are already moving on, their victory a part of the past already. Vince moves on to the Panthers for a senior year of potential heartbreak (see: Jason Street) or triumph, Tinker to a place on the Panthers as well, and Luke Cafferty (in what I found to be one of the most wrenching but not dwelled-upon plot developments) shipping off to the Army (because what else does a boy who only knows football do when he realizes that football is not his future?).
Lots more to talk about, and I will in the recap, but let's let Vince Howard say what we all feel about this show and it's characters, "You changed my life, Coach."
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Okay, friends, here we are. Thank you for reading and for writing and for just generally being as obsessive about this show as I am. Are you ready? I mean, none of us are ever ready, are we? But let's look inside and ask ourselves, are we ready to be tested to our very souls?! Heh. I'm just joking. (No, actually I'm not.)
We go riding around town with the camera once again, Ray's Bar-B (Missing Q), church with nativity scene and "We Love Our Lions" sign, The Landing Strip with ladies wearing Santa hats, East Dillon High, run-down houses with lots of Christmas lights, all while John Evans' "Christmas in Texas" plays in the background.
Cut on over to the East Dillon football field, where we're five days before the state championships, and the field is overrun with reporters and news tents interviewing the boys (my brain cuts over to Tim "I Just Like To Hurt People" Riggins in the first episode). A reporter asks Buddy, Jr. how he feels about the Lions' elimination; he calls the question like it is: "stupid." A reporter asks Vince about getting paired up with "this Sterling kid" and Vince, puzzled, reminds her that Sterling is a Panther. "Yes, but I'm thinking about year, with the formation of the Super Team," she says. Vince tells her he doesn't want to talk about that, he wants to talk about how the East Dillon Lions are going to win State. The reporter asks the hard-hitting question: "Is that a promise?" and Vince, looking over at Coach, who sits to him silently, letting the kid feel his own way through the media frenzy, responds, "It's a fact." Coach Taylor -- as much as he can from behind his sunglasses, hair, and eye lockdown -- approves. Back across the way, a reporter asks Buddy, Jr. and Hastings what their plans are for year. They just look at one another and back at the reporter, no comment, and there's two kids I'd like to see a little short spin-off about. When Tinker gets asked the same question, he calls the reporter a "jackass" and then knocks some shit over on his way out of the tent. Billy Riggins, over in another tent, is asked if he thinks he's in the running to be coach of the Super Team and he's like, "Hell, yeah! My breath smells like nachos!" As for Coach, he tries to deflect the questions about year as best he can, he's focusing on State, he has no comment, no comment, no comment, doesn't want to make a comment, until finally he just walks away from the questions because they won't stop asking them.
"Five year contract, that's not something that comes along every day," is the comment he has for his wife, as they decorate the Christmas tree under emotional duress. Tami tells him she knows how good the offer he's received to coach the Super Team is. He snarks that with that kind of security, they could afford those his-and-her closets she wants so badly. She comes back at him, suggesting that they'd probably get set up real nice in Philadelphia, college-style. And here I literally guffaw -- although Tami Taylor is doing the right thing by going into college administration rather than teaching -- because a "college-style" financial set-up means getting paid about the same as what a NYC building superintendent gets paid. Julie sits on the couch observing her parents bicker during all of this. Tami reminds Coach that the same people who are offering him this contract are the ones who fired him for no reason. Coach literally grabs his hair (and Hair is like, "Hey! Off the goods! I'm trying to help you emote here!") when Tami reminds him that he always said he could coach football anywhere, and Philadelphia should not be any exception. "Because here is where we put our Christmas tree, not Philadelphia." Their voices escalate, and they start talking over one another, Julie literally plugs her ears with her fingers and "la la las" them, and then the doorbell rings. Coach tells Tami that there's someone at the door, making no move to get it himself. She mutters, "Are you serious?" as she heads over to it, but then he's hot on her heels, telling her he doesn't want her to "strain herself," while she lilt-yells, "No I'LL GET IT!!"
They open the door to find... Matt Saracen! Tami puts on a happy face, and Coach doesn't even try. Inside, Julie hears his voice and smiles. At the door, Matt mutters and stutters and Coach says to him, repeatedly, "What? What?" and I gleefully look forward to the day I can take that tone with whoever is courting my child. It's so awesomely insensitive, the best parental quality out there, I think. Tami invites Matt in for their "fun family time," which, heh.
Cut over to the Alamo Freeze. Julie gets out of the car, blabbing about how Matt didn't even tell her he was coming home for Christmas, until he sort of grabs her arm and asks her to stop, right in front of the window, under the "Hot Eats Cool Treats" sign. He grabs hold of both of her hands and clears his throat and starts saying things like, "Ever since," and "I been thinking about," and TEEHEETEEHEE you guys, I know what's coming!!! He tells her how much he loves her and he knows he wants to be with her forever. "So... this is Grandma's" -- and here he pulls out a jewelry box and gets down on his kneed -- "So, Julie Taylor. Will you marry me?" She is way more collected than I would expect, given that she is eighteen years old (well actually maybe her youth is exactly why she is so collected) and she quickly says yes and puts the ring on her finger. Brandi Carlisle's cover of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" starts playing in the background, and listen, I don't need anyone to ratify Bryan Adams for me, I'm okay with my own bad taste, but hot DAMN this song! And then they kiss and hug and the camera pulls back a bit more and we see them standing there, in front of the Alamo Freeze, and Julie Taylor is wearing Chuck Taylors, and that little detail just sent me over the edge. Precious freaking Moments!
And then the camera comes a bit more closely on their faces and Julie looks down at her ring in amazement and says to Matt that her Dad must have freaked. And Matt is like, what do you mean? And she's like, "When you asked him to marry me" and Matt is like, oh, shit, I am an artist, and by "artist" I mean "weirded out by that patriarchy shit which I could probably explain to you in political terms but actually mainly it's that I'm kind of cowardly". And Julie is like "You asked him, right?" and when it becomes clear that Matt did not, she does a little mini-hyperventilate and then rewinds the tape. She wants to pretend like he never asked her, so that he can go ask her father, and then ask her again. And Matt suggests that they just go over there together and tell him together. And Julie looks at him quietly and says, "You need to do it man-to-man," and then THE LOOK IN ZACH GILFORD'S EYES comes from a very real, frightened place. He's got those glaze-horror eyes on as he says "Okay. Man-to-man." And, as much as we are all on Matt Saracen's side, we can't all help but chafe our hands together in anticipation for that scene.
Credits. Tim works under the hood of his truck while Billy sits on the cooler near him. They interact with one another like cranky babies, just like brothers should. Billy doesn't even know why Tim cares about the truck if he's going to Alaska and then starts to stomp off, when Tim stops him with a cool, "I may or may not be going to Alaska." Billy is stopped in his tracks and pauses before he says something that I can't totally make out. I can't turn the captions on my television, either, and in the end, it's more amusing to think of what Billy is potentially saying to Tim. So here goes: "Is it because you, uh, rubbed off Tyra the other night?"; "Is it because you, uh, raw dogged Tyra the other night?"; "Is it because you, uh, rode hog Tyra the other night?" Mindy comes out of the house and tells Tim that getting with her sister Tyra is like incest or something. Billy and Tim swear it isn't incest -- "There's no blood line," Billy notes scientifically. Mindy revises, "It's really creepy," which Billy has to agree with. Tim asks Mindy what she thinks about him spending the day with the whining child currently in her arms. She says yes and quickly, "There's no going back," and then runs off to get a bag for Stevie.
Vince finds his mom at work at the garden center. She's excited about State coming up, but Vince wants to know if she's heard from his father. She tells him that he doesn't want his father there, Vince reminds her that this is once-in-a-lifetime and she responds that that's exactly why she doesn't want him there ruining anything.
Close up on Matt delivering his speech, "And so, for those reasons, sir, among many others, I'm asking for your daughter's hand in marriage, sir." Pull back to find... Landry Clark! They're hanging in the garage, unraveling tinsel, and Landry just laughs in Matt's face. As Landry laughs, Matt pleads for constructive criticism. Should he talk about Chicago more? About how he got a promotion at the art gallery? Landry, nailing it: "Whatever you do, do not mention the fact that you work at an art gallery. That's not going to be reassuring for a football coach." Landry tells Matt that he just needs to walk in there, plant his feet, be assertive, tell Coach that he's going to marry his daughter. "I love her -- you can fill in the blanks here -- she's the love of my life, whatever." Or just walk in there and start crying. Matt again begs Landry to be serious; this is a crazy situation he's in. Landry begs to differ: "The crazy thing is that just a few years ago we were trying to figure out how we were gonna talk to Julie Taylor and now you're going to marry her!" I have not heard a sweeter high school sentiment than that. Sometimes boys are just too cute. Landry tells Matt to stop overthinking it and Matt gets a burst of confidence, "I mean it's just Coach Taylor, right?" and Landry is like, "He's always loved you," and Matt sort of pauses and thinks for a moment and then unconvincingly, "Uh, well, yeah."
East Dillon coaches meeting, Jess shadowing in the corner. They finish up and Jess hangs back. She sidles up to Coach and quietly asks him, "Am I going with you?" He plays dumb. She clarifies, "To the Panthers, the Super Team." Coach tells her to not listen to the rumors, and she just tells him that if the rumors turn out to be true, could he please just keep her in mind. He tells her that he hears what she's saying, but this is the worst time for her to bring it up. But then, "It's already under consideration," and she grins as she follows him out.
Lions practice field. Tim has brought Stevie out there and is giving him some lessons. For example, boosters can be your worst enemy or your best friend. Or cheerleaders. Tim turns Stevie's stroller toward the practicing cheerleaders. "Never turn away a memory," he says. Though again, the Riggins family mucklemouth suggests he might also have said, "Never turn away a mammary." Practical advice, as well, for a baby. Out on the field, Tinker is sad because State will be his last game; he has no faith that he'll make the Super Team. Vince tells him that he's got pull over at the Panthers and that he's got Tinker's back. Back on the bench, Coach goes over to Tim and Stevie and joke-seriously introduces himself to the boy. He asks Tim if Stevie is a "screamer like your brother," and Tim just kind of mutters kind words about Billy. Coach asks if Tim is doing okay working at Buddy's and Tim just tells him that it's a job. Coach tells Tim if there is ANYTHING that he needs, "You know damn well to call me." Tim thanks him sincerely, and then notes that Coach is going to get himself another ring this year. "Got a damn good chance," Coach responds as the ball spirals through the blue, blue sky.
Commercials. At The Playgirl Ranch, Mindy lies on the couch when Becky comes in and dumps a bunch of clothes on the coffee table. "Don't make me do it," she says. It's Tim's laundry, and Mindy grabs a pair of black underwear and goes, "Ewwwwww!!!! It's Tim Riggins' underwear!!!!" Becky slumps on the couch and says that this is Tyra's job now and Mindy makes a little clawmouth snapping shut with her hand, "Shut it." She doesn't want to think about her sister doing it with her husband's brother. Which, yes. That is gross. However, Tyra was there first, Ole Sis!! Mindy does some babytalk girltalk at Becky, until Becky reveals that her mother called and is coming back. So she'll be moving out. Mindy's face is shocked but she pretends that she thinks it's awesome that Becky's mom is coming home. "So, w-w-when is that happening?" and Becky tells her Thursday. Mindy can't deal, and as she's on her way off the couch and back into her room, she tells Becky that if she needs help packing, that's what Billy is there for. Oh poor Mindy! Strippers always fall deep in friend-sister love. (I'm not joking!)
Cut over to Matt, clearing his throat and stumbling his way through a speech that starts, "I've loved your daughter for a very long time now." Pull back and we see that he is actually doing it! He's talking to Coach Taylor! In Coach's office! Coach leans back in his chair and watches the boy squirm. Matt stumbles around, talking about how Coach has known him since he was young, not that he's old now, but also not young. "I'm very mature, sir. I'dlikeyourpermissiontomarryyourdaughter, sir." Coach pauses. Coach laughs. "You what?! Say again?!" Then Matt repeats himself, adding that he loves Julie and will take care of her for the rest of her life, and he'd like Coach's blessing. Coach's face changes, from bemusement to battle-ready. "How old are you, son?" Matt responds that he is nineteen. Then Coach asks how old Julie is. Eighteen. Matt starts reaching, going on about how he has a job and has already gotten two promotions (DON'T SAY ART GALLERY!) when Coach interrupts him: "The answer to your question is no. The answer to your question is gonna be no today, tomorrow, and will probably be no until the sun burns out." Matt takes a sharp left and tells Coach that "actually" they don't need his permission, which causes Coach's voice to raise a bit, "You damn well DO need my permission," and then Matt tells him that he already asked Julie and she already said yes, "So, this is really just a courtesy." Oh, Matt. This is worse than "art gallery!" Coach's eyes are laser-like in their hate precision, the camera tight on his face, as he rises from his seat, without blinking, without breaking his gaze, and growls, "Let me do you the courtesy of telling you that my daughter's answer to you is no." See, now this is awesome. I'm obviously not too big on the "ask the father's permission" and my husband did no such thing prior to our engagement, but this is great drama! This is the kind of shit you lose when everyone is just going around doing what they feel like and not adhering to any (outmoded or not) social conventions.
Cut to Coach busting in the front door of his house. Tami is wrapping Christmas presents. She starts in immediately on him, saying she wants to talk about whether or not they are "East Coast people," and how they won't know unless they try (hint: Tami Taylor, you are not an East Coast person. You might move here, but you are not one. This is a good thing). Coach sits on the arm of a chair and interrupts his wife: "We've got a really big problem. Matt Saracen asked your daughter to marry him." Tami is like "Julie?" and Coach gets exasperated, yes of course that daughter! Coach's voice is all unmodulated as he exclaims about Matt asking for Julie's hand in marriage. Tami notes that he at least had the decency to come talk to Coach first, but then Coach is like no he didn't! He already asked and "your daughter" (I love that) said yes. Tami: "No!" Coach: "Yes." Tami: "No!" Coach, shaking his head and laughing without mirth, "Oh, yes!" Tami opines that they're too young, and asks what Coach told him. He's on his way out of the room as he shout-snarks that he said they should break out some champagne, this is going to be awesome!! Tami yells after him, "I don't know why you're yellin' at me! I think we agree on this!" as she literally throws up her hands in frustration.
Angela Collette is wrapping presents when Tim and Stevie come in. Tim Supermans Stevie at Angela, and Angela calls Tyra out. She gives Stevie sweet Aunt eyes, and then gives Tim some sweet Sex eyes. She sits down and they start chatting. Tim notes that, "Seven's in town," and she tells him that he and Julie got engaged. Tim's eyes widen. Angela comes back with Stevie, telling Tyra that there's a poopy diaper and her diaper changing days are over. Tyra pops up and heads out of the room; Tim asks if he'll see her tomorrow night and then just nods to himself, presumably thinking about Matt and Julie and how once the dominoes start falling, they don't stop.
Tami walks into Julie's room, all Quiet Understanding Mom. She makes a funny face and tells her daughter that her father told her the news. Julie asks if Matt talked to Dad, and then, "Did Dad flip?" Tami scrunches up her face and nods yes. Julie chuckles. Tami walks in and opens with, "Honey..." but is stopped by Julie showing her the ring. "It's his grandma's." Tami puts her hand to her mouth, getting emotional. "That's beautiful." Then she tells her daughter that it's just that they're so young. Julie says that she knows it seems like that, "but, I love him more than anything." Tami tells her that her father and she would like to take them out to dinner. "As a celebration dinner?" Julie asks. "Well, like a conversation dinner" Tami replies.
Cut to Ornette talking big about his son to a guy at a rough-looking bar. Vince walks through the heavy plastic curtains in the door, and asks to talk to his father. His dad asks him what he's doing, "on this side of town. Heard you all 'West Side'." Heartbreaking because there was Ornette, just ten seconds ago, talking his boy up, but when the flesh and blood kid walks through, he has no idea how to talk to him, or at least can't get beyond the hurt and betrayal he feels at having not measured up in Vince's eyes. He and Vince walk outside for a minute. Ornette tells him (cicadas buzzing in the background) that he doesn't need to come check up on him. Vince kind of just stands in front of him, until Ornette asks what he's there for. Vince tells him that they've got State on Saturday and Ornette is like, yeah, kind of can't not know that in this town. Vince tells him that he got him a ticket and he wants him to be there. Ornette takes a drag off his cigarette, his face slightly softens for a minute, but then closes back up. "I got things to do." He tells Vince that he'll be watching, though, and then heads back in to the trailer bar, leaving Vince outside.
Commercials. Tim leaves a convenience store, Stevie in one arm, a six-pack in another. Becky is outside, "Hey Tim Riggins." This is the very same convenience store where Becky ran into Luke after getting rejected by Tim Riggins and then they went off to do it in Luke's truck, and then she got pregnant and didn't know what to do and then Tim Riggins took her to Tami Taylor and Tami Taylor told her about her options and Becky chose the option she felt was best for her, and then Luke's mom found out about the abortion and got Tami Taylor fired. Now, doesn't that sound a bit silly? But it never was! This show is like magic! So Becky tells Tim that she's going back to live with her mom. She says she thinks she wore her welcome out with Mindy, but Tim looks at and talks to her softly, saying that Mindy will miss her more than Becky will know. She asks if he's really moving to Alaska and Tim is like, nah. Then she tells him that she's glad she did the whole high school thing like he told her to, that she's glad she made her memories, and also, she's over her crush on him. He smiles at her. And by the way, DO NOT FORGET that this entire time he is holding Stevie in his arms. So he is SO hot, and also caretakerly, and also sweet and quiet, and Tim Riggins why are you doing this to me?! So Becky asks if they can be friends now, and Tim looks at her and says, "Let's say family," and then they part and go their separate ways. Tim Riggins, baby in one hand, beer in another, complete and total ethical, manly triumph in both.
East Dillon locker room. Billy is handing out tickets to the State Championship. Everyone gets two. Billy starts calling the boys up. Staub echoes his calls, and they get sillier and sillier with their pronunciations. When Vince goes up, he tells Billy that he only needs one. Billy doesn't find this odd, but we notice Coach and Jess, standing right there, hear what Vince is saying and register what it means.
Conversation dinner. Tami tells Julie and Matt that they just don't want them to rush into anything. Julie says that they aren't, they aren't getting married right away, and anyway, Tami and Eric were their age when they got married. Coach says that it was a different time, Tami notes that they were a little bit older, Julie nitpicks that they were still in college and Eric notes, in a more aggravated tone: "IT. WAS. A. DIFFERENT. TIME." Coach's hair is like, "You gotta be kidding me with this shit." Matt speaks up, saying that it's just that he loves Julie so much. They're holding hands and caressing one another like they are the only people in the entire world to ever feel love this seriously; i.e., acting like nineteen-year-olds. Eric, still with a pissy tone, asks if Matt just doesn't understand what he's saying. "Marriage requires maturity. Marriage requires two people who, for the rest of their lives, are willing to listen, to really listen to each other. And marriage requires the greatest of all things, which is compromise." The camera has cut away to Tami's face as she listens to Coach's speech and wonders if he gets the terrible irony of his words. Julie says that they are willing to make it work. "Look at you guys. You were married when you were our age. How many different jobs have you had, how many times have you moved, how many difficult things have you gone through? And you guys have made it work." Julie Taylor! She's been watching and listening all this time, even when she's been acting like a total teen goon. Tami's eyes are welling up as she listens to her husband and daughter wax perfection about marriage. Julie: "You guys are my inspiration." Tami hits a wall and gets up, asking to be excused for a minute. After a nice long pause, Eric lays his napkin on the table and follows his wife outside.
He finds her, arms crossed, fighting back tears outside the restaurant. The camera pulls back and we see them embrace, Tami in her shift dress and cowboy boots, and then listen in on their intimate conversation. She tells him, "It's my turn, babe. I have loved you, and you have loved me. And we have compromised. Both of us... For YOUR job. Now it's time to talk about doing that for my job. Because otherwise, what am I gonna tell my daughter?" And, ooof. My guts. This is so, so true. They have got to walk the walk, you know? If they want their daughter(s) to know what is there for them in the world. That there is love and care and tenderness, but that there is also potential and ambition. Tami wipes her tears away, as Coach has just stood there silent while she spoke. Tami is, at this point, speechless. "You just can't..." and then turns to go back inside. Coach stays outside, his face completely inscrutable. His imagination is failing him. And this is a crisis for a man who has always been able to dream his way into relationships and championships. But here, he can't do it. And it is hurting him, and it is hurting Tami.
Commercials. At home, the Taylors are in comfy clothes. Tami sits in the living room, Christmas tree alight, crickets chirping in the hot night outside. Eric comes out and sits on the couch. They sit in silence for a moment until he asks how they are ever going to make a decision when she isn't going to talk to him about it. And well, there is one thing about marriage I have found true -- you spend a lot of time talking or arguing about who is the one who is avoiding talking about something. Tami, in total defeat, tells her husband that she believes she has talked to him about this, and that she's decided that she's going to say no to Braemore College. "I'm never gonna win this fight." Coach Taylor, hair running its own hands through itself in continued confusion, just nods and says, "Alright," and Tami's eyes reflect just how very much she wished he would say something different, that her giving up would prod him into preventing her from giving up. Julie comes out and sits down, eliciting a small smile from her mom. A very pretty song, "Holy, Holy, Holy Moses" by Alec Ounsworth, starts playing in the background. Julie tells them that she knows that they think she's making the wrong decision and is going to drop out of college or something. But that that isn't her, and they should know that. This is about "getting to spend the rest of my life with my best friend," and she wants them to trust her, that she's making the right decision. And I really must object to this show punching a poor pregnant lady in the gut repeatedly, because, again, OOOOOF. It IS about spending your life with your best friend, that is exactly what it's about, and that is how it starts, and that is what you have to remind yourself when you are sitting in your stretchy pants and your husband is driving you crazy. Tami tells Julie that they do trust her, and want her to be happy. Coach just nods silently and if you blink you might miss that what Tami and Eric just did is send their child out into the world, for real and for good. They have released her.
Oh, god, I need to take a moment here.
That pretty song keeps playing as Billy, Mindy, and Becky drive up to Becky's mom's house. Becky tells Billy that she really appreciates what he's done for her. Mindy leans against the truck, avoiding all eye contact. Becky goes to her and tells her that it isn't like she's going to just disappear. She's going to be at their house all the time, to see Stevie and the twins. Becky reaches out and caresses Mindy's cheek, as she cries. They hug and Becky whispers to her, "You're my sister." The gravitas of the situation leavens a bit when Becky's mom comes squealing out of the house. Becky tells her mom that she looks really pretty; meanwhile, Mindy looks off to the side like a wounded deer.
Jess comes home to a bunch of little brother ruckus. They announce that they're going to Dallas, to Jess's confusion. Her aunt comes in and clarifies. Her father's barbecue franchise has taken off and he's moving them all to Dallas. Jess is not happy.
Ornette, still hanging in that Bad Man Bar. Coach walks in and interrupts his pool game to throw down a ticket to State. "Young man gets a chance like that once in a lifetime." Ornette regards Coach with eyes of anger and resentment. Who is this guy who was able to so easily slip in right where Ornette was not?
Becky and her mom sit on the porch, her mom clearly telling bawdy stories. Luke drives up in his truck and Becky explains who he is to her mom. "He's a little hottie," her mom says. Luke walks over, big vase of flowers and a teddy bear (!) in his hands. He tells Becky that he misses her and is crazy about her. Becky's mom interrupts to introduce herself and then stands up. She says that Luke is a sweetheart, "as long as he learns how to learn a condom." Luke's "yes, ma'ams" in response to this comment really make me laugh. So polite when discussing getting down and dirty! She walks off to leave the leave the kids alone for a minute. Luke kneels down and tells Becky that he loves her and is so sorry. He tells her that he wants to be with her forever and ever and then they kiss (and thankfully do NOT get engaged).
Over at Buddy's, Tim brings over a big tray of beers and whiskey for Tyra, Matt, and Julie. Tim toasts, "To Mr. and Mrs. Saracen," and they tell how they got engaged in front of the Alamo Freeze. Tyra cracks up and Matt protests that it was sentimental and amazing. Tyra agrees that it certainly is amazing. Tyra notes how crazy everything is. "Y'all are engaged, I'm halfway through college -- kickin' ass by the way," and Tim adds on, "And I'm out on good behavior!" They all cheers to that (Tim: "Sweetness") and a slow song comes on the jukebox. Matt takes Julie onto the dance floor. Tim and Tyra are a bit slower to follow, and there they are, swaying together. Tim tells Tyra that this feels right, and Tyra tries to protest, "You're just lonely, Tim." She tells him that she can't do this with him again, she has plans. And Tim has the best answer ever: "I don't." And Lord knows these boys without plans can grate on a woman, but right here? When it's Tim Riggins? Complete perfection.
Commercials. Coach and Tami are asleep when the phone starts ringing. They both act hilarious, Coach saying, "Stop that, stop that," and Tami begging him to turn it off. Coach takes the call and it's Buddy, informing him that Buddy, Jr. is going to live with him "el permanente." And he wants to tell Coach how ready Buddy, Jr. will be for the Super Team year. Buddy tells Coach that "they" want him to get Coach to sign his contract with the Panthers before he leaves for State later that day. "Sound like a plan?" Buddy asks. Coach tells him to never call so early in the morning again and hangs up. Tami has come into the kitchen, and Coach tells her, eyes hooded and sleepy, hair out of the frame, that they want him to sign the contract. Tami just looks dejected and mutters, "Today." She looks at him through her hair a bit and then just says that she's taking Gracie to see Santa Claus today and then walks away. Coach stands and thinks and stands and thinks.
Matt and Julie are over at Grandma Saracen's house, decorating the tree. Grandma comes out with a big box, excited to have "found it." She opens it up and unfurls her wedding dress. She can't believe it's still so white. Matt tries to intervene, saying that he thinks Julie might want to get her own dress, but Grandma says, "Nonsense," which Matt kind of repeats into Julie's ear, and they both smile. Grandma is going to freshen the wedding dress up in the kitchen sink. She asks to see the ring on Julie's finger, which Julie shows her. Grandma bends over and kisses it and I just about die. She looks at Julie and asks, "Do you like it?" and Julie says, "It's beautiful, Mrs. Saracen." Grandma looks at her and tells her, "Honey, you gotta call me Grandma now. We're family!" She hugs Julie and says, "I love you," and Julie responds in kind. When they pull apart, Grandma goes bustling about looking for the shoes and veil. Julie looks a bit unsure and Matt asks if she's okay. She asks if he thinks they are making the right decision. And this is a perceptive girl, understanding that what just transpired between her and Grandma Saracen is not just something to joke or laugh about. That what she and Matt are doing is a big deal, and you see that reflected in the deep reaction Grandma Saracen is having. Matt tells her that none of her worries matter, they know they love each other, and they know they're perfect together. It's going to be perfect. He kisses her and Grandma comes out wearing her old-fashioned wedding hat.
East Dillon locker room. The boys are dressing for the bus. Jess knocks on Coach's door and tells him the news that she's moving to Dallas and won't be a part of his Super Team after all. He looks at her intently and tells her that she will be missed and that he means that sincerely. She tells him that being a part of the Lions has been the greatest experience of her life. And Coach looks at her and says, "I think it's been mine, too." She walks out and Coach sits at his desk, staring at his little Lions figurines, wondering what having said that really means.
Commercials. Still in the locker room, the boys in their suits getting ready for the bus. Vince, a big smile on his face, goes over to Jess and asks to talk to her for a minute. He tells her that at first he hated her being on this team, but now -- with how far the team has come -- he realizes how lucky he is to get to share all this with her. He loves that she's a part of the team. They kiss.
Tim and Tyra walk across his land with folding chairs and a cooler. Tyra tells him that she's not sure yet, but she's thinking that she wants to go into politics. She worries that he's laughing at her. He swears no. "Inside?" she asks, and he says no again. GORGEOUS SHOT of their tall, slim frames silhouetted against the sky. They set down their chairs and Tim asks when she says politics, does she mean like Sarah Palin? "No, you ass! Out of all people, really?" Tyra says. And she says that what's she's thinking of is Mrs. T, except maybe bigger. Tim rummages in the cooler as Tyra tells him that she's been in love with him since she was five years old, and being here with him is the greatest feeling she's had in a really long time. "It scares the hell out of me. I have dreams, Tim." He looks at her and tells her that he knows she does and that he has dreams, too. He's going to build a house exactly where they are sitting. And he'll get a job. And he'll never do anything illegal for the rest of his life. "Maybe one day our dreams can merge together." Tyra looks at him, totally in love but also totally happy to not rush anything. They clink their beer bottles and look out onto the land and back to one another. This is a Texas-sized love, and a Texas-sized patience. (And a Texas-size bleep! amiright?)
Over at the mall, Tami delivers Gracie Bell onto Santa's lap when Coach comes rushing down the escalator and over to her. He scares her half to death, they take the shot of Grace, and Tami wonders what's wrong, he's supposed to be on his way to State. And Coach looks at her and tells her that he turned the contract down, "it's your turn, I want to move to Philadelphia." And Tami just frown-smiles and asks, "Really, babe?" to which Coach asks, "Will you take me to Philadelphia?"
Commercials. Explosions in the Sky plays as the bus pulls out of East Dillon's parking lot It plays as they get off, heads tilted up to gaze at the Cotton Bowl. It plays as they walk through the shadowy tunnel out onto the blazing field. It plays, as they all, in slow motion, spread out onto the field and look around them. It plays as the boys get animated, doing flips on the field, alternately elated and daunted. It plays as Luke smiles to himself, knowing that this will be his last game.
The song fades into the sound of cheering crowds as we cut to later that night. The boys' legs shake nervously inside the locker room while outside crowds cheer and get feral and tears run down the boys' faces and the crowds roar and inside Coach talks quietly to Vince. "You may never know how proud I am of you," and Vince tells him, "You changed my life, Coach." Coach asks the team if they're ready and they all respond, together, "Yes, sir," and Coach leads them in a prayer, asking that the boys be protected, and take the talents they've been given and use them the best they can. Intercut into this prayer are shots of the team making its way out, amidst theatrical smoke, onto the field, making a circle, arms around one another, jumping up and down, Vince leading them in a chant.
The coin gets tossed up against the black night, "Deus Ex Machina" by If These Trees Could Talk starts playing, and the game begins, run in a gorgeous slow motion montage. Coach turns to see his wife in the stands, kissing her fingers and sending them towards him, the other team getting a touchdown, Coach's face chagrined, Ornette walking in late, the Lions getting a touchdown and everyone cheering. Signs in the stands, Luke concentrating out on the field, running for his life for a touchdown, Matt Saracen and Julie cheering in the stands (Matt's hair longish and curly, having left the discipline of high school football behind), Coach gripping the play list, Vince getting sacked, Luke being taken down hard, Coach talking to Luke on the sidelines, the other team running for another touchdown, the Lions coaches getting frustrated on the sidelines, Coach looking at the score, 26-21 with 3 seconds left, with doubt on his face. Doubt!
Commercials. Back at the game, sound has been mixed in and we get some football announcer exposition about how tough a game it's been. On the sidelines, Coach holds Vince's eyes and tells him, "63 yards, you've got to give your receivers time." Vince does not flinch and he heads out onto the field. Quick shot of Jess, eyes closed, in prayer, and then everything slows down again. Vince's mother in the stands, eyes closed, everyone dressed in red and putting everything they have onto these boys on the field, Ornette nearly in tears obviously realizing that his son is bearing more than he ever could, the ball is snapped, Tinker holds the line, Coach looks on with complete concentration and faith, having given it all up to the boys. Vince scrambles, he fakes, and then he pulls his head back and throws the football. Shots of everyone we know and love in the stands watching that ball fly and this is about faith and it makes me want to cry watching them watch that football because isn't that what we are doing when we put our faith in something, we make it beautiful and we have no control over it. And the ball flies and flies through the black night until the sky behind it turns blue and we can just always now come back to that ball, always flying through that sky.
And when the sky turns blue, the ball descends into the hands of a player dressed in green. Shot of the scoreboard "Home of the Pioneers" and Coach Taylor, also in green, clapping his hands, "Atta boy, atta boy," and then I have to cry a bit more, because my Southern father, transplanted to the North now for over two decades, says that all the time. Delta Spirit's "Devil Knows You're Dead" plays in the background for this final montage.
Coach works with his new team. Tami walks around her urban college campus, still rocking the shift dress but now wearing wedge heels (sad face). She looks up and around in amazement at her surroundings. Back in Texas, the Panthers practice. Crowley is there, Vince is there -- and it is here, on Vince's finger that we see the State Championship ring, and I could not love more that they won and I could not love more that the show did not focus on their winning, but on their lives going on beyond winning. Buddy, Jr. is on the Super Team! And Tinker! Buddy, Sr. is still tooling around in his golf cart. Over at East Dillon, the "State Champions" banner is taken down as the entire scoreboard is taken down. At the bus depot, we see Luke, in a Marine Corps uniform, kissing Becky goodbye and giving her his State ring. She crumples a bit as the bus leaves. And for anyone who might complain about this show sugar-coating small town life (which, sure, it certainly does), this detail, a boy who nobody really thought to prepare to do anything other than play football or farm then going on and enlisting in the Marines, well that's just pretty much a kicker now isn't it?
In Chicago, Matt shelves a box of cereal in his RIDICULOUS apartment, while Julie comes out of the bathroom, looking all fresh and sweet and they head out the door for the day. And at first I wanted to yell, JULIE TAYLOR ARE YOU IN COLLEGE? But I suppose if it's August in the world of the show (eight months after Christmas it says), she could conceivably not be back to school yet. If that school is on the quarter system. And if we are suspending our disbelief. And if we just quit it already and stop nitpicking. Okay, okay.
Down in Dallas, Jess works a clipboard to a new coach. And back in Dillon, in the Panthers locker room, a quick shot of the words "J. Street" scrawled underneath the Panther "P" decal on the wall, and then a shot of Buddy overseeing the installation of a sign saying, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." Buddy Garrity, feet planted, passing on tradition.
Out under the hazy, hot, Texas sky, the Riggins boys work on the very beginnings of a house frame. Tim stops to look upon his brother with love, they stop to have a break and some beers, and Billy turns to his brother and says, "Texas forever," at which Tim pauses and then repeats it back to him. The camera lingers on Tim's face (no complaints here!) as he looks into the middle distance, still doing the work, but obviously well on his way to healing. And you guys, this is the last time we'll be in Texas. And I have to confess, I do not feel completely comfortable thinking about the Taylors in the Northeast. There is so much ease with which people float from place to place in this country, and that is sometimes a good and nice thing, but what about a home, a place where you deeply belong?
But of course, Coach and Tami just need one another to make a home, and they will make their own new community, because they are extremely good at that work, and this is good work to share with the world. But you will never get me to stop feeling a little bit sad about the Taylors out of Texas.
The music winds up and we cut back up to Philadelphia where Coach is finishing up practice with his new team. They kneel before him as he gives them a stern pep talk. He tells them that they have a long way to go, a long way. He pauses, and the camera ranges around these new faces, and Coach says, "And you know what? I'm lookin' forward to it." He tells them that they need to go home, get their studies done, and be back there tomorrow at 6:00 AM, which means no later than 5:45 AM. They all shout, "YES SIR!" at him and he decides to follow that up with the classic: "Cleareyesfullhearts," he says quickly and looks them up and down. They look back at him, unsure. His eyes go warm and smiling, "Eh, we'll deal with that later." He sends them off for a final lap and tells them they put in good work today. They run off... past Tami Taylor, who walks onto the field, all legs and hotness in her buttery leather jacket and jeans. She waves at these new kids and walks straight to her husband. They kiss and she asks him, "You ready to go home?" and Coach nods. They walk across the field, away from the camera, which pulls back and back, past the uprights, and back some more, and then the lights literally go out.
And that's it. We're done. I've spilled a lot of words on this show, and I want to thank you again for reading. Doesn't it feel good to be a little bit sad? I know you think so, too, if you've stuck with me this far. The best shows make you a little bit sad with how true they seem. So take that sadness and wrap it up nicely and put it in your pocket and keep it there, our secret. See you all later.
Drunken Bee is the pseudonym of Sarah Blackwood and you can keep in touch with her here and here.