By Sabrina Cognata
Another day, another dollar, another Friday night in Odessa, Texas—proof that some things never change. This probably isn’t going to come as a surprise for the rest of us, but Tami finally realizes that being a single parent is not nearly as easy as she’d hoped. The stress of a newborn mixed with the stresses of raising a know-it-all teenager, couple with post partum blues—this woman is dealing with a lot and not nearly as tough as she’d hoped.
On the flipside, life without his family is no walk in the park for Tami’s husband, Eric (Kyle Chandler). He gets sent to a hearing with one of the players caught accepting gifts from NFL scouts. On the way to the hearing the player, Anton, overhears Eric talking to his estranged wife & newborn and takes the time to mock Eric over the fact that he’s left his family to coach college football. Eric takes Anton’s comments personally, yelling at Anton for being ungrateful and a disappointment. Later, he stands up during Anton’s hearing and tells the board that they can suspend Anton for the entire season or allow Anton to play so that his coaches can instill disciple in him. This wins over the board and Anton is only suspended for three games. Doing this helps Eric to further prove his abilities to the head college coach, but does nothing to lesson his desire to be with his family.
Things between Matt (Zach Gilford) & Julie (Aimee Teegarden) worsen. It’s clear to Julie that she no longer wants to be with Matt—even if she cannot be with the Swede. Matt calls her a ton of times to see if she needs to be picked up for school without an answer or a reply. When Matt runs into her on campus she tells him her phone is off and to call her later. Clearly Julie is blowing off Matt, but he continues to hope that something will change and she will start to care about what they have & what they had in the past. Regardless, Matt’s world is topsey turvy at home. His grandmother continues to deteriorate mentally, and he’s finally able to obtain in home care for her. The problem with this is that the nurse provided is changing everything in the house and putting Matt’s stability in question.
Likewise, Julie avoids her mother just like Matt and goes around moping about the Swede blowing her off. When she stops by the pool to pick up her paycheck she runs into the Swede and like a little forlorn puppy she tries to avoid talking to him. He confronts her and she tries acting nonchalant. Later, he runs into her at the gas station when she is with her friend—he offers to take her to the pep rally and she accepts his invitation, abandoning her friend. When they get to the rally the Swede kisses her and she tells him to give her a call. After that she confronts Matt about their problems and tells him it isn’t him, but everything else in her life including the Swede & she needs to get out and find room to breathe. In short, Julie is like every other woman looking for the next best thing, and Matt is not the best thing anymore.
After Landry (Jesse Plemons) murdered Tyra’s (Adrianne Palicki) rapist and they disposed of the body together there is a sudden stress on their friendship. Landry confronts Tyra about being in love with her since forever and tells her he would have killed that man over and over again just to end her problems. Tyra tells Landry she isn’t sorry that guy is dead and she wishes she’d done it herself. This drives Landry and Tyra closer as they now have a secret to keep and love to grow from it.
When there’s a crack in the dam eventually the entire thing breaks—in this way Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) begins falling apart. The stress of his shattered family life, his wife’s new boyfriend and the football team rejecting his offer to host the pep rally have finally set in on Buddy & at the pep rally he gets drunk and makes an ass of himself. Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) rushes to his aid, but Lyla (Minka Kelly), Buddy’s daughter intervenes, ashamed over her father’s state & tells him she take care of him herself. She realizes that her drunken father is more than she can bare to handle and Tim helps her take Buddy home and put him to bed. In a sort of silent truce the two civilly say goodbye to one another as Lyla thanks Tim for his help.
I guess next week all hell breaks loose when Buddy decides to tell Eric he can get him his old job back—Do you think Eric will take it or will Tami finally come to her senses and tell Eric she needs him and move her life to be closer to Eric and his new job? Really, I just want to know if Landry and Tyra are going to get caught and charged with murder—I mean, they should, right?