A New Job, a New Coach and a New Baby
The Taylors adjust to their new situation. Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden, Kyle Chandler by Bill Records/NBC
Episode Recap: "Last Days of Summer"
"Welcome back to another glorious year of Panther football." I'm not ready to classify the football as glorious just yet, what with this new Coach McGregor (the anti-Eric Taylor) and all, but the show itself is certainly back and in sublime form.
Let us first welcome into the world Miss Grace Taylor, second daughter of Eric and Tami, sister to suddenly moody teen, Julie. Now Eric has another daughter to defend against football players and Swedes; too bad he's a plane ride away in Austin. His new coaching job at TMU is having a deleterious effect on his family and (I'm not even being dramatic when I say this) the entire football-loving community in Dillon, but more about that in a bit. Julie won't talk to him because she considers him to have been an absentee father for the last 8 months, and Tami -
Connie Britton, proving yet again how wrong the Emmy voters got it with her incredible performance tonight - is absolutely destroyed that he can't even take two full weeks to be with her and their new baby, simply because he's getting squeezed by his bosses. Was that a look of regret I saw when, on his flight back to Austin after giving out the 2006 Championship rings, he passed over the Dillon football field?
Speaking of screwed up Taylor decisions, what is with Julie? Not showing up to a party Matt invited her to in order to go see some hunky fellow lifeguard's band? Joke's on her because the Swede - yeah, I didn't hear an accent or anything either - has a girlfriend. I didn't buy her tearful confession to her dad that she was so afraid of turning into Tami, and of Matt turning into Eric that she's avoiding him. I think she's just being a difficult teenager who got used to taking advantage of the fact that her mother was busy getting ready for another child, and her father was a couple hundred miles away.
Lyla Garrity's spent the last nine months becoming supremely obnoxious as well, but worse than that is that she's cloaked her obnoxiousness in religious sanctimony. For instance, her response to Riggins complimenting her new look was, "Thanks. It's probably because yesterday I was baptized and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. What'd you do recently, Tim?" Maybe we should cut her some slack though, because her family is absolutely bonkers; her mom is dating a vegetarian owner of a health food store (in small town Texas? Seriously?) and her father is sleeping at his car-dealership.
In fact, as affecting as Tami's breakdown was, it was Buddy that broke my heart tonight: "Eric, that Tennessee hillbilly is stonewalling me. Won't even talk to me, locked me out of practice told Mac Macgill that I was an annoying nuisance." And in a nutshell, that pretty much encapsulates what's changed this season. Our familiar characters are finding themselves in familiar but altered (and not altogether pleasant) situations: Jason can't be friends with people he's coaching, Matt is being rejected by his girlfriend and his new coach, and seemingly no one else can catch a break. The only exception is Smash, who's on the cover of
Texas Football, and is having the offensive line built around him.
Tyra and Landry's situation merits a separate discussion. I'd heard the grumbling about this setup, since NBC had made this episode available early on the website, and while I try to avoid spoilers, I couldn't help but take notice of the discussion. I don't find it as off-putting as many others do. It wasn't done bombastically - we didn't see them dump the body - and there are always consequences on this show, but they're always completely realistic consequences, and I have no doubt that the writers (and actors) know where they're heading with this. Translation: Let's not worry too much about this storyline before we see how it plays out.
So can the Panthers win back-to-back championships under the tough-love tutelage of Coach McGregor (played by
Chris Mulkey)? Leave your reactions to the episode and speculations about the season to come in the comments, but do be kind to spoiler-phobes (myself included), and don't reveal anything you might know.
Can't get enough Friday Night Lights
? Check out our Online Video Guide for clips, full episodes, interviews and more!
