Another excellent episode. I really enjoyed the recurring motif here, of pairs of people trying to, as Smash puts it, do everything right, and still feeling like they're coming up short or running into walls or even worse, letting the people close to them down.
It comes to a head in two obvious ways. The first is between Smash and his mom. Smash wants to take the Alamo Freeze regional manager job, because he's always felt like he was supposed to support his mom, and thinks this is how he can do it, rather than taking more from her (including forcing her to take a second job) so he can go to A&M. Smash has tried so hard, and still finds himself short of where he thought he'd be, having to have his mom take care of him still rather than the other way around, and his face shows the tragedy of that. But Corinna's response to him, that she's not done being his mom, that her dream is for him to go to college, and that she's proud of the man her son grew up to me, made me a bit misty. Corinna is such a sweet, strong character and the scenes with her and her son are a consistent highlight on this show.
The other is in the Matt/J.D. McCoy storyline, where Matt does everything Coach asks of him, puts his body on the line repeatedly in this week's game, and it's still not enough. But Matt, at least, gets the comfort of Julie appreciating him and what he's been through. It's a sign that there's more out there for Matt than football, and that Julie understands it.
The Taylors themselves are a great example of this, as Coach doesn't want to be indebted to the McCoys and have to face more pressure to put J.D. in or switch to the spread, and Tami doesn't want to have to deal with another huge Coach's wife task on top of her responsibilities as principal and deal with more enmity from the boosters, and they're both in defensible positions there. Coach wants J.D. to earn his spot, and he trusts Matt, even if Buddy, McCoy, and Wade the mercenary QB coach have a point that the spread is the way the wind was blowing in high school football at the moment and it seems like McCoy can run it. Tami is, again, well-meaning in trying to drum up funds for the school, while the boosters have a point that they donated their money with a clear intent that she understood and is ignoring. And the Taylors themselves each have good points, that having the big dinner at the McCoys instead of Coach and Tami's house puts Coach in an awkward position, but it takes a big weight off of Tami's shoulders and might help her in her own goals. It seems like a lot of what's going on this season is building to a conflict between the conflicting, but equally legitimate concerns of Tami and Coach, and I like that idea a lot.
There's also a lot of class consciousness, with the Colettes feeling like they're not good enough for Lyla, and Buddy putting the same pressure in the opposite direction on Tim. Here's Tim trying to do everything right -- to do right by Lyla and do right by Billy, and maybe also to himself, and finding himself unable to make everyone happy or do everything that's expected of him and live up to all the expectations from the different corners of his life. It's an interesting conflict for Tim, and while Lyla is still a bit grating here (which is mostly because the actress is kind of grating), you get the sense that she at least knows Tim is trying.
A great theme with a lot of great executions of it. Interested to see where it goes.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-07-18T00:18:31Z
Another excellent episode. I really enjoyed the recurring motif here, of pairs of people trying to, as Smash puts it, do everything right, and still feeling like they're coming up short or running into walls or even worse, letting the people close to them down.
It comes to a head in two obvious ways. The first is between Smash and his mom. Smash wants to take the Alamo Freeze regional manager job, because he's always felt like he was supposed to support his mom, and thinks this is how he can do it, rather than taking more from her (including forcing her to take a second job) so he can go to A&M. Smash has tried so hard, and still finds himself short of where he thought he'd be, having to have his mom take care of him still rather than the other way around, and his face shows the tragedy of that. But Corinna's response to him, that she's not done being his mom, that her dream is for him to go to college, and that she's proud of the man her son grew up to me, made me a bit misty. Corinna is such a sweet, strong character and the scenes with her and her son are a consistent highlight on this show.
The other is in the Matt/J.D. McCoy storyline, where Matt does everything Coach asks of him, puts his body on the line repeatedly in this week's game, and it's still not enough. But Matt, at least, gets the comfort of Julie appreciating him and what he's been through. It's a sign that there's more out there for Matt than football, and that Julie understands it.
The Taylors themselves are a great example of this, as Coach doesn't want to be indebted to the McCoys and have to face more pressure to put J.D. in or switch to the spread, and Tami doesn't want to have to deal with another huge Coach's wife task on top of her responsibilities as principal and deal with more enmity from the boosters, and they're both in defensible positions there. Coach wants J.D. to earn his spot, and he trusts Matt, even if Buddy, McCoy, and Wade the mercenary QB coach have a point that the spread is the way the wind was blowing in high school football at the moment and it seems like McCoy can run it. Tami is, again, well-meaning in trying to drum up funds for the school, while the boosters have a point that they donated their money with a clear intent that she understood and is ignoring. And the Taylors themselves each have good points, that having the big dinner at the McCoys instead of Coach and Tami's house puts Coach in an awkward position, but it takes a big weight off of Tami's shoulders and might help her in her own goals. It seems like a lot of what's going on this season is building to a conflict between the conflicting, but equally legitimate concerns of Tami and Coach, and I like that idea a lot.
There's also a lot of class consciousness, with the Colettes feeling like they're not good enough for Lyla, and Buddy putting the same pressure in the opposite direction on Tim. Here's Tim trying to do everything right -- to do right by Lyla and do right by Billy, and maybe also to himself, and finding himself unable to make everyone happy or do everything that's expected of him and live up to all the expectations from the different corners of his life. It's an interesting conflict for Tim, and while Lyla is still a bit grating here (which is mostly because the actress is kind of grating), you get the sense that she at least knows Tim is trying.
A great theme with a lot of great executions of it. Interested to see where it goes.