Friday Night Lights: Let's Get It On (Episode 205)

Oooooohhh, yes, by all means, let's get it on. If you've somehow wandered over here expecting objective critical commentary, sorry, you're S.O.L. There's nothing but flail and squee and inappropriate mmmmmmmsounds in this particular corner of the internet this morning. It's like Jeffrey Reiner called me up and said, "Ran, babe, what can I do for you? What would you like to see? What would make you happy?" So he gave me Eric and Tami under one roof again, being all sassy and lovey dovey. And then the Panthers won in a patented last-minute Friday Night Lights cheesefest. And then Julie got her ass handed to her by Matt. But best of all, I got Tim, Jason, and Lyla -- my OT3 -- proving that the whole really can be greater than the sum of its parts, just like Landry said. *happy sigh* My idea of scathing critique for this episode? "Less praying! More lip-licking!"

"I SIN DAILY AND I'M A BETTER CHRISTIAN THAN YOU, GARRITY" -- Lyla arrives in Mexico to find that Tim never told Jason she was coming. Whoops! I love the look on Tim's face as he says, "You made it!" Okay, I love most looks on Tim's face, but that was a particularly nice one. Lyla's not impressed by the boys' description of their time south of the border so far. "Sounds like you guys found a whole new level of dumb down here," she says. Hee. She decides to leave because neither of them are paying any attention to her she says they're treating the whole thing like a big joke. Tim says he's got a plan: he wants to take Jason on a booze cruise ("all inclusive -- meals, snorkeling, dolphins") and talk to him about the surgery out on the water. Ah, shades of Lake Threesome! Good times! Lyla says she thinks Tim's got a really distorted view of the world if he thinks that's a good idea, and he rightly points that he might be screwed up, but at least he's there, at Jason's side, and whatever happens, they're going through it together, even if it means he has to take Jason back to Texas in a box. His jab at Lyla's brand of Christianity hits home, and since Lyla doesn't seem to have any better ideas, she pulls her suitcase out of the cab and goes along, telling Tim he'd better "man up" and have that talk with Jason.

The booze cruise turns out to be pretty nice -- the water's gorgeous, the sun looks warm, and I think Tim's idea of a different setting was a pretty good one. Besides, out there, Jason's a captive audience, right? I mean, where could he go? The talk, when it comes, is such a thing of beauty I can hardly contain myself. Things start off a little rocky -- Jason doesn't want to hear what they have to say and Lyla, in particular, gets defensive when her "everything happens for a reason, God has a plan for you" approach just makes Jason spitting mad. "Then how about 'it's a stupid idea and you're being an idiot'," she snaps. Jason snaps right back, "Maybe I ought to let some Jesusfreak dunk my head under the water and wash all my troubles away." Lyla walks away at that direct hit, and Jason turns on Tim next, trying to do the same to him, but Tim's made of sturdier stock, and I'm sure he's heard worse. I think it's right about here that I forgot I was sitting in a chair at home on a Friday night and started feeling like I was right there on that boat with them. I can practically smell the salt and feel the sunshine as my boy Timmy mans up in a big old way and lays it all out for Jason: "I get that you want to walk again, but guess what? Never gonna happen. Fact. You know what? Best case scenario, you lose ten grand. Worst case scenario? Dead, Jay. Dead. You think I want to go back to Dillon and look your family in the eye and tell them I let you do this?" Then, like he didn't already own every corner of my heart, Tim says, "Listen. I love you. And I will knock you out and bring your ass back to Dillon if I have to." As he's talking, Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build a Home" underscores the scene, and there's never been a better match of music and mood. It's all so good. SO GOOD. I love these guys and their epic bromance. I love that Tim's able to shoulder the role reversal and be the one who's strong, who's right, for once. The fact that he's so fucked up and yet can still stand up and do this for his friend just speaks worlds to me about the good heart that beats under that boozy exterior. I adore Tim.

Jason hears him. He does. He just…can't deal. After Tim steps through the cabin to talk to Lyla, Jason hoists himself up onto the railing and then…Jesus…hurls himself into the water. Later, I found my notebook and pen on the floor, so I think that's when the flailing started, but I'm not sure, since I was down there in the water with Jason, dropping, dropping, and I was there with him when he had his epiphany, his literal sink-or-swim moment. And because it's Jason, who we know to be as stubborn as the day is long, who never quit anything...he swims. He pulls himself up and breaks the surface in time to see the boat moving further away. Meanwhile, Tim's seen Jason's empty chair and is frantically trying to get the captain to turn the boat around, but as he and Lyla scan the water, all they see is the churning waves. All I see is a blurry television, since I've been a basket case since the "I love you" speech and now this?!? Jason turns his head and sees the shoreline in the distance, and starts toward it, one arm over the other, dragging his useless legs behind him until the waves pick him up and carry him in to the shore. *sniffffffff*

I'll handwave how Tim and Lyla figure out where to find Jason, but they do, driving up the beach in the red truck with Jason's chair strapped in the back. I guess Jason's had some time to think because when he starts to talk, it's like the old Jason's back. He apologizes to them both and says he's not having the surgery. Tim's speechless -- I guess he used up his word allotment out there on the boat? They head back to the motel, but stop along the way for a drink, and it's there that the magic I remember from Lake Threesome returns with a vengeance. I like each individual relationship separately, but the chemistry they have when they're all together is something pretty special. I hope we see more of it. That's a massive understatement, in case you wondered. At an outdoor cantina, with some sultry music playing, Lyla dances first with Jason, ending up in his lap and giving him a kiss. Then she reaches out for Tim, who's been sitting, watching. Now it's Jason's turn to watch (and watch he does, and really, who wouldn't???) as Lyla and Tim come together in that way they have, where the world disappears and they fit like they were made to go together, and then they kiss, too… *insert those inappropriate mmmmmmsounds* It's intimate, it's hot, Taylor Kitsch is inhumanly sexy, and it feels exactly right for the three of them to be together like this. I'm getting all sorts of Y Tu Mama, Tambien flashbacks, which just adds to general ooooooh, yeah feeling I've got watching them. Just as things start to look like they might get realllllly interesting, Lyla steps back from Tim and says, "I gotta go pray." I have to assume that's Texan for "I'll be in my bunk." Scoot over, Lyla; after that scene, there's a whole bunch of us who've gotta go pray! Y'all will let me know when the fanfics start popping up, won't you? Until then, here's an illustrated guide to my favorite threesome:

"I LOVE YOU, DON'T TOUCH ME" -- It's been six weeks since Bug's birth. Do you know what that means? It's that time when men -- who will never have to push a watermelon out a hole the size of a lime -- start to pressure their exhausted, leaky-breasted, post-partum wives for sex! It's wonderful to have Tami and Eric back in the groove again (metaphorically speaking!). Much of the episode is spent on Eric's various attempts to get back in Tami's pants. Even Coach McGill weighs in on the problem, counseling Eric in his office that, "A new baby can be a sumbitch sometimes," and suggesting Eric bring Tami flowers and arrange for her to have a night out, preferably with alcohol involved to facilitate getting "back in the saddle." The look on Eric's face at all that unsolicited advice is priceless! Eric's first attempt involves literally makin' bacon, as he cooks breakfast for Tami, with a follow-up of generously encouraging her to attend book club that night. Oh, and he brought her tulips! He's so cute! She goes to book club and comes home adorably soused, but when Eric puts the moves on her again, sure he's gonna trip right back into her saddle, she pulls back, saying her boobs are killing her and she's got to go "pump and dump." Thwarted again! I know you'll be glad to know she comes around eventually, asking, "So…you wanna fool around?" as Eric drowses on the couch after the game. It's a little scary, how much better I feel now that Eric's back in town. I know he's still got stuff to iron out here and there, but at least he's getting some!

"TAYLORBALL IS BACK!" -- As we learned last week, there are still some ill feelings on the part of the team about Coach T's abrupt departure and return. Him coming back didn't erase the animosity between Smash and Matt; in fact, it may have exacerbated it. On the practice field, when Smash says, "I don't get on all fours for nobody," Matt bitches back, "That's not what I heard." HA! Smash got Matttalked! They gripe and moan to the point that Eric finally invites them over for dinner while Tami's out at book club, trying to get them to talk it out and get over it. Instead, he gets an earful from Matt, who says Smash is using the Panthers to get his free ride to college, just like Coach T used them to get to TMU, "and then when that didn't work out, you came back thinking we'd be happy to have you. Kind of like what your daughter did with that Polish Swede or whatever he is." Wow, Matt. You sure you got room in your uniform for balls that big? Holy cow. Matt continues to show the size of his stones when Julie starts sniffing around him again, asking him to go to a concert with him. "Not as a date," she says, "Just hanging out." Matt earns my undying devotion (it's not like I didn't love him before, but it's nice to see even a puppy can grow sharp teeth) when he tells her later that he can't go to the concert with her after all. When she asks why, he lays it out for her, saying she cheated, she lied, she expected to be able to come back and pick up where they left off, and she never, ever said she was sorry. You tell her, Matty! He walks away, leaving a pretty devastated Julie. Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll be able to feel sorry for Julie, who made the mussed-up bed she's lying in, but for now, I'm just pumping my fist, going, "Gimme a M! Gimme a A! Gimme a T! Gimme another T! What's that spell? MATT!"

Around the romances, bromances, make-ups and break-ups, we've got football this week. The Westerby Mustangs are back in town, the same team the Panthers were playing when Jason got injured last season. Coach T benches Smash and Matt as punishment for mouthing off at him their behavior, and poor Weston, the QB2, throws one interception after another. Landry, or "Lance," as he's still known to Coach T, gets put in the game after he gives a rousing half-time speech about the team being better together than alone, and makes an awesome tackle. Smash and Matt kiss and make up enough to get Coach T to put them in, and Matt calls the play for the win -- a pass to Landry. The newest, geekiest Panther almost makes the game-winning catch, and 'almost' is quite good enough to lead to a rousing round of "Landry! Landry!" from the Panther faithful. Why, it's almost enough to make you forget he brained a guy with a lead pipe six short weeks ago! Just when we think Westerby's won, a defensive interference call goes against them, the Panthers get the ball back, and Smash takes the ball from Matt and vaults himself over the defense and into the endzone, and the Panthers win! At the last second! Again! Woo hoo!

"IT'S A LOT TO CARRY ALONE" -- Coppa Clarke shows us where Landry gets his smarts as he starts to pull together the pieces of the Trouble puzzle. As my E-P Mister put it, "He's still trying to figure out what that girl's doing with his sorry-ass son." I can't say I appreciate how the other cops talk about her as they raise her as a "person of interest" in the murder, but I also can't say they're wrong. Coppa Clarke asks Landry some probing questions, which Landry deflects, but not good enough to allay Coppa's spidey sense. The fact that Landry's lying to him doesn't sit well at all, but rather than continue to work that angle, Coppa lets his dad side overrule his cop side. He goes to Trouble's house and tells her, "You stay away from my boy," emphasizing that it's not a request. Ouch. Trouble chooses the moment after the game that Landry helped win, when the cries of "Landry! Landry!" are still ringing in his ears, to clobber him. She meets him outside Fran's Diner and tells him they're not going to be together anymore, that if what happened hadn't happened, never in a million years would they have gotten together. "Look in the mirror; I don't know what I was thinking," she says. Landry stands there, looking pole-axed, as Trouble sneers at him one last time, then walks back to her car and breaks down. Aww! Poor Trouble! Poor Landry! I still don't care as much about that as I do about the whole massive fuck-up murder/cover-up. It's hard to get a read on Trouble right now. Did she follow Coppa's orders for Landry? Or for herself? Or both? I believe she genuinely cares about Landry, and I can see how this was a hard thing for her to do, but I can also see where Coppa's coming from, especially since we know he's putting some things together and it all points to Trouble. I have faith they're going to fix this shitstorm eventually, and frankly, I hope they start with the dead guy and not with the troubled romance. *fingers crossed*

Before I go, I've got to give Meg some love for filling in for me last week -- thanks, sweetie! You done good! And now, to get the last lingering taste of Trouble's smackdown of Landry out of all our mouths, I'm going to leave you with my happy place image of the week, courtesy of Malkin:

This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home 

          - Cinematic Orchestra, "To Build A Home"