Friday Night Lights: Seeing Other People (Episode 108)

Usually, my show makes me think about the big stuff: family, marriage, community, religion. Not this week, though. No, this week, I'm pondering men's underpants. In the generation since I was privy to more than one man's skivvies on a regular basis, have things changed so much? Do high school boys really wear boxers? With their bait and tackle just dangling out there in a sea of plaid? Whatever happened to tightey whiteys? To keeping the boys close to home? Is that an honor now reserved for beer-bellied, meth-making, ferret-loving guys named Guy? It's like the producers are thumbing their noses at me after my display of Kitschflesh in last week's recap; either that or they know that if they'd sent Gaius Charles on his 3.8 second dormdash in a pair of nice, athletically supportive burgundy jockey shorts, the entire quotient of female viewers (and perhaps some of the male) might have spontaneously exploded.

"I'VE GOT THIS SECRET…" -- Looks like the Massive Fuck-Up is starting to wind down. Landry and Trouble are tip-toeing their way to a better place, friends-wise, as Landry offers to take Trouble's place at a meeting with Jeff Caldwell, the brother of the Goddamn Bastard. Poor Jeff's trying to make sense of it all, trying to reconcile his memory of his brother with the evidence of what he'd become. Landry says he was a "sick, irredeemable piece of scum." Jeff says simply, "He was my brother." I think it's that moment that starts to send Landry over the edge and around the bend, that personalization, that humanization of the Goddamn Bastard. In the cafeteria at school later, as Landry sits miserably at a table by himself, dissolving into a puddle in his Crucifictorious shirt, who comes to him? Who brings the message he needs? Miss Lyla Garrity. Have we ever seen them talk before? She knows him and he knows her, so I'm guessing they've been in church groups together since they were little kids. Lyla steps across the social divide and sits down with him, asking him if he's okay. Then delicately, tenderly, she guides him toward a conclusion he's been struggling to reach on his own. It moves me, as so many things do on this show. He says his secret's eating away at him, and how complicated it all is. She says the truth is usually pretty simple. "Telling the truth is a way of surrendering to God," she says. When he protests that he's not sure he can do that, she says, "That's why they call it faith." *sniff* At the end of the episode, Landry walks into the Dillon Police Station and says to a couple of dumbfounded officers, "I did it. I killed him." Oh, boy. That's not gonna sit well with Coppa Clarke.

"I FIND YOU INAPPROPRIATE" -- We've got a couple of storylines that fit the inappropriate bill this week. Let's start with the Taylor family: Julie and her much-older hottie teacher Noah have become so close that he's loaning her sexually explicit books and she's making him take-me-now-baby Jose Gonzalez CDs. Tami, who's still swinging wildly on the post-partum pendulum, over-reacts, pulling Noah aside, bending him over and applying blunt pressure where no man wants it. In her now famous whisper-yell, she spits that she could get him fired, get her husband to beat the crap out of him, and send him to prison. Whoa, there, mamabear, he's just playing with your cub! Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but it looks like Noah and Julie are just enjoying each other's attention, and nothing more salacious than that. And yeah, it's probably inappropriate, but there's ways and then there's ways, and Tami's way rebounds on her bigtime. Their conversation's overheard through an open classroom door, and the story spreads like wildfire through a dry canyon, bringing a furious and humiliated Julie to Tami's office, where she screams at a wide-eyed and shocked Tami, who's so sure she's right she can't bring herself to see the situation from Julie's perspective. Aunt Shel plays peacemaker, which Tami hates until Shel quite rightly points out, "If Mom had done that, how would you have felt?"

Tami's at the center of another controversy this week, this time with Eric over Glenn. Only when they finally sit down to talk about it, while Tami's still adorably toasted from the Bunco game she went to while Eric was "baby-sitting" ("It's not babysitting when it's your own child," she reminds him), it's not really about Glenn. It's about Glenn showing some respect to Eric by not yukking it up with his wife and laying around on her couch and bringing her food. Or something. There's some chance it's also about Eric getting laid, or not getting laid, since apparently, they've just done it the once since Bug was born. He's crankier than a vegetarian at Texas de Brazil. [Click the link just to hear the porny boom-chicka-boom music. It's pretty funny. Sexy meat! Mmmm!] When he protests again, Tami looks at him, befuddled, and Eric takes it over the line, saying, "It undermines us. You need to pay more attention to your family." What? Eric? WHAT? Oh, man. The mood turns in a second, with Tami sobering up fast when she realizes he's serious. She gets serious, too, and sends him off to sleep on the couch. It's been awhile since I sang the praises of Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, separately or together, but they nailed that scene. They're so good. Later, when they've calmed down, Tami tells Eric that she needs a friend at school, and Eric comes over and sits beside her on the couch and they make up. "I like you," he says. Awwww!

"'OPEN RELATIONSHIP', MATTY; MAGIC WORDS" - Something magic is in the air all right, as Matt Saracen vaults from Dumped Sadsack Loser to Hottest Thing Going. While necking in the Dart, Lauren invites him to come in and spend the night, saying her parents are out of town. But Matt declines the bush in the hand for the Carlotta bird waiting at home. Not a bad move, as it turns out; though Carlotta blows cold first, she comes around eventually. No one can resist Matt when he does that head-dipping, sincere thing. After a talk with Smash about how to break up with someone, he tries the "Let's have an open relationship" line on Lauren and gets his ass dumped for it. But at least he's a free man when he loses his virginity to the hot nurse in his family's employ. Talk about inappropriate! I think they do a nice job of showing Carlotta's reluctance, but when push comes to shove down onto the bed, she's the one who makes the big move, coming to Matt in his room, examining his tonsils with her tongue and yanking off his shirt. Nice back, Gilford! I'm glad Matt didn't lose it to Lauren, but I kind of wish he and Julie had lost it together back at Bradley's Cabin Of Dubious Hygiene last season. I believe he's sincere when he tells Carlotta he likes her and just wants to be with her every minute he can (*sigh*) and I looooove how Carlotta has brought order and warmth to the Saracen household (she sets Grandma's hair like Angie Dickinson's, for heaven's sake, how could we not love her?) but the shadow of the whole "inappropriate" thing still hovers over them, blurring my enjoyment of all that lip-smacking and skin.

"IT'S GONNA BE LIKE CABO IN MY PANTS" -- Not even a 37-0 loss to the Mavericks can dull Smash's excitement about his first big recruiting trip. Over Smashmama's objections, he's headed to McNair State, where "the cup's never empty and the girls never say 'no'." Smashmama reminds him before he goes that he's representing the family and to make her proud. Maybe it's a good thing Smashmama didn't go on this particular trip, since it involves strip clubs, cocktails, and a Bigass Mofo who ends up chasing Smash out of his girlfriend's dorm room in the middle of the night. Smash hightails it all the way off the campus, looking mighty, mighty fine while doing so, despite wearing his grandpa's underwear. He calls Matt to come and get him, leading to the whole "open relationships" conversation. He says he's never broken up with a chick in his life, and always comes out of break-ups smelling like a rose. Oh, Smash. You mean well, I'm sure. Let's hope his next recruiting trip is a little more about football and a little less about poontang.

"YOU'RE LIKE AN ANIMAL RAISED IN CAPTIVITY" -- Maybe McNair State's not the place for Smash, but at least it's college, football and a decent future. Tim's got none of that on the horizon. At least he knows it: he flags down Tami (wearing his Muscle Shirt of *Thud*) and gives her that look. No, not that look, not the "I could be in your pants right now" look; the other one, the "lost little boy" look that Eric says Tim's been perfecting since he was a kid. Tim asks Tami to talk to Eric about letting him back on the team, which she does, but it gets lost in the whole argument about Glenn. Things could be worse for Tim, I suppose. At least he's got a roof over his head, and, proving if it's got a pulse Tim will have chemistry with it, he's got Guy calling him "pretty boy," and Roscoe and Coltrane literally eating out of his hand. "You must be an old soul, man," Guy says as he stands in the doorway wearing only matted chest hair, decades' worth of junk food, and a saggy pair of jockey shorts. It looks like Guy's got a little Cabo in his pants, too. Either that or there's a third ferret -- probably  named Cooter -- nesting in his short and curlies. I don't know...something's squirrelly's going on down there, but I can hardly watch. My notes are a little sketchy; I had to put down my pen and cover one eye, trying to keep Tim in frame without having to see that much of some guy who's not Taylor Kitsch.

Guy tries the "there's more to life than football" line on Tim, and tells him what he needs to do is to kill hisself some dinner. So they go hunting. In a tree. With camo, rifles, and copious amounts of alcohol, including a binocular flask. I'd facepalm if it wasn't so damn funny. Guy's a hoot -- the actor seems to really be enjoying letting it all hang out, and I love TK's reaction shots. On the way home from the "hunt", they stop at a convenience store and Guy sends Tim in with money for beer…and cold medicine. Uh-oh. Danger! Danger! Tim's curious enough that later on, he explores a side trailer on Guy's property and finds the homemade meth lab that could all too easily be Tim's future (remember Billy used to sell weed?). Guy finds him there and says, "Good thing you're a cool dude, or I'd have to kill you." It rattles Tim -- not the implied threat, since Guy's big but slow and I'm pretty sure Tim could take him, but the glimpse of where he's headed if he doesn't start bailing water faster out of his sinking ship.

Tim puts on full uniform and shows up at practice, where Coach T dismisses him once, twice, three times, putting his foot down and telling Tim in no uncertain terms to leave the field, but Tim won't go. He's not ugly about it; he doesn't argue. He just walks up to Red, saying, "Hey, Firecrotch!" and...apologizes. Sweetly. Sincerely. Then he does the same to random #46, who he says gives it all in practice. And then to Matt, asking if he's lost his virginity yet. ("YES!" Matt shouts silently). Then Tim apologizes to the whole freakin' team, saying he'll make it up to the rest of them in the showers. Heeee! And awwww! Wait, I have to heeee one more time. Oh, Tim! Coach T tells him to line up, and just like that, Tim's back on the team, which makes me one very happy Ran. Now if we can just get him the hell away from Roscoe, Coltrane, and Cooter, things will really start looking up for him.

I'm ditching y'all, leaving you in Meg's capable hands while I head out to Arizona next weekend for some quality family time. Be sweet to her while I'm gone -- she'll have Landry's "confession" to deal with!