Next day, Merriweather house. Jess and her three younger brothers race from the house to Ray's BBQ, where Bertram has prepared their lunches. She hesitates and then admits that she heard Coach talking to him about football; she says that she and the brothers love football, and she respects that it's not his thing anymore, but she makes the case for the pep rally to be held there. Bertram doesn't say yes, but she's made a good case. Across town, Tami is driving and still listening to the Slammin' Sammy Mead show, and the local callers are *crucifying* her on the Luke issue - they want her resignation, a public apology, they want her run outta town on a rail. Tami finally pulls her car over, rages to her steering wheel that she did the right thing, and then bursts into tears.
Dillon woods. Riggins and Saracen are hunting, which is just hilarious. I mean, everything I know about hunting you could put in a post-it note, but I'm pretty sure you should be in the woods, and not an open field, and that your chances are better at 5AM than what looks like 10AM. Anyway! Saracen sees something in the woods and drops to one knee, shooting at it three times; Riggins practically dives for cover, asking what the hell Seven's doing. Saracen says he thinks he saw something, which is all Riggins needs to hear: he grabs Matt's rifle, telling him "NO GUN FOR YOU." Matt: "...really?" Later that night, 'round a campfire, Matt asks Riggins again what college was like. Riggins lists 7AM wake-up calls, a coach who was on his back all the time, "nothing like Coach Taylor." Have you watched the opening of the FNL Pilot, Riggs? Matt huffs a laugh; Riggins tells him "we were spoiled." Matt asks the real question, which is whether Riggs missed Lyla. Tim says they were on "different paths"; Matt takes that as a yes, and Tim confirms it. Tim asks what it's been like living in Dillon, and Matt says it hasn't been as bad as he thought it would. He's happy to spend time with Lorraine, he makes more money through tips from Panthers Pizza... "So basically you stayed in town for Jules?" Tim asks. Matt concurs, and says he knew she'd be applying to colleges, he just didn't expect all of them to be so far away. He mans up to being a jerk and says it was his decision to stay; it's not her fault that she wants to go. "Well... Texas Forever, right?" he asks, and Tim breaks into a smile. "Yeah. Texas Forever," he says, clinking his beer against Matt's. Aw, boys.
East Dillon. There is no way for me to describe the deadpan hilarity that is Landry talking to Jess, so I'll just transcribe it here. Ready?
Landry: Hi, Jess! Hey, am I your boyfriend?
Jess: *is gobsmacked*
HEE. Anyway, Landry, who's wearing his football jersey for the pep rally, explains that Vince came and talked to him, so he just wanted to clarify things. Jess backtracks that she just said SOMEone was her boyfriend; she never mentioned Landry. Landry is not fooled by this for one second, but he plays it cool and says he'll see her at the pep rally later. Jess looks like she swallowed a bug.
Pep rally! The Taylors, including baby Grace, arrive at Ray's BBQ (told you!) for the big event. There's big banners, Jess is leading a bunch of girls in a dance routine in front of the funk band, and Bertram is dishing out some tasty-looking BBQ. Landry watches Jess shake her groove thing; Buddy walks through the crowd of predominantly African-American people, smiling cautiously, unsure of himself. Speaking of unsure, Julie walks over to Stalker Coach and kindly tells him that she won't tell anyone anything about the other night. She could have saved herself the trip, though, as Stalker Coach is in UTTER denial: "Tell anyone about what?" Jules is so thrown that she just stammers and walks away. Not the way I would have played it, Stalker Coach, but I'm betting that some folks in Dillon will have BIG issues with the coach of a local high school boys' football team being gay, so I say you do whatever works.
Eric takes the stage to introduce the 1983 State Champions, who come out holding their gold trophy aloft - my goodness, it's a tiny thing, just a football-shaped trophy, really - and wearing T-shirts with their old numbers. Bertram stands on the side, arms folded, looking slightly wistful. The new team members line up, making an aisle, and shake hands with the former champions as they take the stage. The deacon takes the microphone and leads everyone in prayer. He reminds the crowd that a group of lions is a pride. "We stand before you today, lord: Your pride," and I start getting a little misty. "We need pride in this world. And what do we have here?" the deacon asks. "PRIDE," the crowd shouts back. Even the East Dillon Principal, wearing a tie, shouts it back. Sniffle! The crowd bursts in applause and whoops; Tami and Eric's eyes meet across the crowd, and he breaks into a small smile. Aw. Later that night, in the kitchen of Ray's BBQ, Landry helps Jess clean up after the pep rally. She's muttering about cleaning something when Landry just walks up to her and kisses her. Whoa! Jess is surprised, but doesn't push him away. When the kiss ends, Landry blinks: "We're not dating, right?" "Definitely not," Jess says quietly. I guess that's code for Keep This Quiet.
Next morning, Tim drives Matt back from their hunting trip. At Chez Saracen, Lorraine and Matt's mom (yay!) put together a grocery list, and their relationship seems much more amicable. That's going to be important, because there's a knock at the door, and when Matt's mom opens it, there are two officers at the door in full uniform. She swallows hard, the music kicks in and the dialogue drops out. We all know why they're there, especially Lorraine, who just covers her mouth and begins to wail: it's a mercy that we can't hear her grief. Tim drops Matt off at Julie's house and takes off. Julie answers the door. Matt's doing his look-at-the-ground-'cause he's-ashamed thing, so he tells her that he's there to apologize before he looks up and sees tears pouring down Julie's face. She asks if he's talked to his mom, and bless him, he immediately thinks something happened to Lorraine. She says she's sorry and then tells him that his father was killed; she grabs him in a hug, and the episode ends with Matt clutching her, looking stunned. The poor boy - he's done so much with so little for so long, and I know his father wasn't actively in his life, but that's still got to hurt like hell.
[...] That’s why it’s called hunting SEASON , Billy,” Tim argues, claiming the best line of the episode less than one minute after the credits. Billy: “Seriously, I’m gonna put your head through a wall.” Oh, Riggins boys. … Fantastic Forecast ( 4 ), Featured (113), FlashForward (60), Flashpoint (1), Flight of the Conchords (2), Friday Night Lights (20), Fringe (62), Galleries (15), Game of Thrones (2), Ghost Whisperer (5), Glee (29), Golden Globes (1), gossip girl (33) …Continue [...]