Hi Laurel here...pretty good episode! Lot's of character development which me and Mark both like. First of all Julie really gets to see some of what Matt is going through. He stands her up for a date at he library so she comes over to his house to give him a piece of her mind. Instead she finds his house in total turmoil! He is in the middle of chaotic cleaning, making dinner, and dealing with his grandma. It gives her a little perspective and comes home to tell her parents how much she loves them and they are the best parents in the world! I'm glad she got to understand Matt a little better and understand that she has it really good in comparison. On the plus side Matt's dad decides to own up to his responsibilities and stay and help out with grandma, on the minus side it becomes obvious that he is totally miserable and it wont be good for any of them if he stays. But at least he tried, and everyone including Matt gets to see that the next best thing is for them to keep doing what they have been doing and try to make it work. Matt's dad will go back to Iraq and Matt will keep taking care of his grandma.
The second big thing this episode is Jason finds out he is suing Coach Taylor because he reads it in the paper at the local market. I'll let Mark tell you more about this because he seems to have a more balanced perspective than I do.
We also learn a little more about Tyra's situation. Her mom has a terrible boyfriend. They get into a huge fight and the guy ends up hitting Tyra's mom in front of her. Tyra is so awesome! She grabs a fireplace poker and goes after the guy, chasing him out of the house. Her mom is obviously sort of weak willed and one of these women who always has to have a boyfriend, whatever the cost. When he finds them at the rodeo and begs Tyra's mom to take her back the mom at first seems like she is going to take him back, but Tyra wont have it and tells the mom she will move out if the mom let's him move back in. She is literally packing her bags when the mom comes in and tells her she would never choose a man over her daughter. I don't have a lot of faith in their situation, I still think the mom is weak and may continue to make bad decisions but at least Tyra got through to her mom on this one.
Mark here...I agree with what Laurel said about Tyra. Its nice to see a bit of character development with her. We see why she's a bit of the town bad girl and why she's sort of used dating men as an excuse. We also see why she's drawn to town bad boy Tim Riggins. But when Tim tries to get back together she turns him down, determined not to fall into a destructive pattern. I don't feel like this is the end for them, but it's nice to see Tyra stand up for herself and say, no you can't just get back with me because Lyla is back with Jason.
Onto Jason...I agree with Laurel that the lawsuit is bad. However I sympathize with the parents. They are looking at crazy bills and clearly a lawyer has told them they can get more money. Faced with an uncertain future for their son, I can't really say I don't understand their decision. They decide to sue the school, against Jason's wishes. But they really aren't seeing other options. They live in Texas, where state help is minimal at best. Sure the town says they'll help them out, but Jason is facing years and months of rehabilitation. Can they be sure the town won't forget them when next season rolls around?
One more thing...the part with Matt Saracen and his dad...there's really no win here. Matt could get sent away to Oklahoma, his dad could stay and try to work in Dillon (his future as a car salesman was not looking bright), or dad returns to being a soldier. They chose the latter but I think Laurel's right in that Matt needed to see his dad trying to make it work to realize it wasn't going to. Soon Matt will be off to college and the grandmother will need to go to into some sort of assisted situation sooner or later. Meanwhile the dad will have given up the only career he was good at to live in Dillon. The best part of this storyline was after Julie sees Matt's life (as Laurel describes above), she goes home and declares to her parents, "I love you guys so much and you're the best parents and the world!" On hearing this Coach Taylor smiles and goes back to his football game...Tami Taylor's reaction is priceless! She turns to Coach and goes "No!" as in, no your daughter didn't just come home to say this because something good has happened. The two of them both get up to talk to Julie then, but Tami's reaction is amazing (as is Coach's).
Another plot line was we see a bit of Smash trying to make it work with the preacher's daughter. We're left not sure of their future. Smash is very into himself but seems willing to work on this relationship. She does seem into Smash, but she's still in the dark about his steroid use...
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