Nevermind

Mark here...Laurel and I are watching the next episode of Friday Night Lights.  This on is called "Nevermind" and Laurel has made us some delicious BBQ pork sandwiches (using part of the leftovers from the Pot Roast dinner with some homemade BBQ sauce), Blue Cheese Coleslaw and Corn Pudding.  This episode opens with Jason Street rummaging through his house to find his Nirvana CD.  When he can't find it he chooses to wheel down to the record shop to purchase a new copy.  WHile there he runs into Lyla and one thing leads to another.  Soon the two are back at his house trying to get it on, which doesn't go so well.  Apparently, he's physically not capable.  The rest of the episode finds the two of them trying to work this out (and figure out if they can actually work things out between the two of them).  Lyla comes across as a bit too over eager to fix things, at one point suggesting they watch a video on sex with spinal injuries.  This is too much for Jason, who after talking to his friend, realizes that there is no quick fix and that it may take quite a while before he can have a healthy sex life again.  For Lyla's part it seems like she may be trying to get over her guilt by "supporting" Jason, but again she comes across as a bit too eager.

There is another plot line with Matt Saracen's dad coming home for leave for 2 weeks.  At first this seems like a godsend.  He will come home and take care of everything.  It quickly becomes clear that the dad isn't equipped to deal with what's going on at home.  His mother, Matt's grandmother is suffering from alzheimers and the dad has no idea how to cope.  At the same time he offers Matt little support, leading Matt to blow a football game and blow up at his dad afterwards.  The impetus for this is his dad's idea of sending Matt away to live with an aunt in Oklahoma and putting the grandmother in a home.  By the end of the episode, things are still unresolved.

One last plot line is that Tim Riggins has apparently been skirting by his studies by getting others to write his school reports.  Tami Taylor picks up on this right away and lets him know he won't be cruising through anymore.  To her credit she sees Tim is smarter than he lets on, but he's never challenged himself.  He also seems to realize people expect little of him.  Tami assigns Landry to work with him.  At first Tim is reluctant to do anything, but as the episode goes on he starts to pull through.  By the end of the episode, he thanks Landry for his help (showing up to see Landry's band, Crucifictorious, who sound as band as their name!)

Hi Laurel here..I agree with Mark on all points.  I feel sort of bad for Lyla because she's a teenager and your partner having a traumatic spinal injury is a lot for anyone to deal with, but she is handling the situation all wrong.  She keeps trying to fix things and this situation is just unfixable.  She needs to start empathizing with Jason instead of trying to make everything OK.  Everything is not OK.

Poor Matt Saracen!  He thinks his Dad coming home is going to be a blessing, and he's finally going to get some help with his tough situation but the Dad is just trying to delegate all of his responsibilities so he doesn't have to deal with anything.  It's really disappointing.  Also Matt has really become a man while his Dad has been away but his Dad still treats him like a kid.  It's really disrespectful considering what Matt has been going through.

Tami is totally right about Tim Riggins, he really hasn't been living up to his potential, and is way smarter than he or anyone else gives him credit for.  Side note Tami and Eric have a fight about Tim's academics and how to proceed...they are so good at fighting!  They both get heated but the whole time they are really communicating and hearing what the other has to say.  It was very constructive.  I wish I was so good at fighting.