Writer: Rolin Jones
Director: Allison Liddi
Originally Aired: 06/04/2010
Grade: A+
I’m going to get the negative stuff out of the way early:
As lovely as this episode was, my biggest gripe with the season as a whole is the way the writers are handling J.D. McCoy. He’s gone from a nuanced and relatively likable character to a one-note “obligatory psychotic jackass” (™ Veronica Mars). We saw the seeds of that transformation planted when Coach Taylor sent Matt in to replace J.D. at state, but the actual transformation took place entirely offscreen, which makes most of his storyline in the third season feel pointless. This feels like what would happen if the sequel to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog focused entirely on Captain Hammer, with Dr. Horrible just popping up from time to time as a one-note nemesis. Why did we need to see his character development in detail if it was just going to be completely dropped later? Sumpter’s doing well with the straightforward villain role, but it still feels like a waste of a good character and actor. I hope he goes back to being a nuanced main character next season, because aside from the above issue, daddy McCoy as the villain is sufficient. I don’t think the show needs two of them, and from the same family, to boot.
Now on to the good:
When it comes to this show, I think only Tim Riggins could turn a one night stand into a dysfunctional family in which the one night stand’s daughter sees him as both a daddy replacement and an object of lust. I don’t find it difficult to believe at all, though. Lust aside, he’s done it before with Bo, and while that could make his relationship with Becky feel like a plot retread, I think it’s more like a character trait—Tim has a soft spot for lost puppy types. It also makes sense in the context of Tim’s current life circumstances. Tim is lonely. Lyla is gone. Billy is starting his own family and doesn’t have room for Tim. He doesn’t have football anymore, for the most part. No one else seems to need or want him right now, and as annoying as she is, Becky’s neediness makes Tim feel useful.
The bulk of the episode consisted of exploring Matt’s grieving process, but I’m going to try not to dwell on it. It was beautifully written and acted, nuanced in all the right ways, and painfully accurate. Tim’s suggestion that Matt should see his father’s body might not have been such a terrible one if Henry Saracen’s face had been intact, but Tim didn’t have any way of knowing that (although the funeral director did, and him not telling Matt is the one sticking point for me in this storyline). Stepping on an IED doesn’t necessarily mean having one’s face blown off, so it seems perfectly logical to me that Matt questioning whether that’s really his father in the casket would lead to Tim suggesting that he achieve some peace of mind by seeing for himself. Confirming that it was indeed his father mangled body in the casket probably would have been better than spending the next few years wondering if they’d correctly identified his father. The fact that Matt was denied that closure and peace of mind because his father’s face was completely gone, rendering the body unidentifiable to him, is both horrifying and heartbreaking.
Zach Gilford has always deserved an Emmy nomination, and this was some of his best work, so I hope the Emmy voters can pull their heads out of their asses long enough to acknowledge Gilford’s talent and hard work. It would be beyond ridiculous to see an actor who was repeatedly snubbed as a main cast member receive a nomination as a guest star, but I’ll take what I can get.
Other Stuff
-The best thing about the opening game sequence was Jess grinning and shrieking on the sidelines. Seriously, her face was killing me.
-What was up with Coach Taylor reverting to calling Landry “Lance” again when he asked him to lead a prayer for the Saracens? He called him Landry earlier in the season, so we know he figured out his mistake at some point, and that was definitely an inappropriate time for a joke.
-Matt having drawings of hands stuck all over his bedroom wall was a lovely bit of continuity, and of course he would take Sherman literally enough to practice drawing hands over and over.
-Becky, honey, you need a boyfriend and a father figure, not both in one package. At least she and Luke were adorable in their thirty seconds of screen time together.
-Speaking of Becky, Madison Burge is still doing really well with adding some nuance to her role. When her mother yelled, “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to this girl?” into her cell phone at Becky’s dad, Becky’s expression conveyed not just embarrassment at her mother making a spectacle of their family dysfunction, but also resigned disgust at her mother’s hypocrisy.
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