6.8/10. A lot of good stuff, and a lot of stuff that was kind of off combines to make an episode that's close to being good but not quite there.
Let's start out by focusing on the positives. The Lions get a win! It's well earned, and the show continues to do a great job of showing Coach Taylor's team gradually improving. If anything, the trajectory's a little too neat and tidy, with steady improvement coming in a way that rarely show's up in the box score so perfectly, but it's easily handwaveable for the demands of a weekly television show. The idea that they're only beating the worst team in the conference, and having to struggle a bit to do works well, especially with Vince's Bad Idea Bear friend showing up to cheer him on. That said, the people taunting them with toilets is a little odd in a "why did they come to our concert just to boo us?" sort of way, but it creates a nice "nobody believes in us" vibe that makes the eventual victory, cheered by the newly reconstituted booster club and new color commentator Buddy Garrity all the sweeter.
There's also a love triangle between Vince, Jess, and Landry, and I...don't hate it? I mean, I don't exactly love it, and I've railed against how love triangles are this show's default mode of exploring romance time and time again, but this one is fairly understated so far and it works well enough to show how Vince and Landry are two very different people but that Jess could have a connection with them both. Again, this show's stumbled when handling racial issues before, so I'm a little hesitant about the "going outside your community" subtext becoming text, but with both Vince and Landry playing around with Jess's siblings, there's a way in which they both make sense in her life and are endearing that makes the choice and the conflict seem legitimate instead of like manufactured drama.
Unfortunately, we get more into manufactured drama with Tim's storyline here. There should be something tragic about Tim trying to find a straight job so he can buy his dream ranch, coming up short, and falling into his brother's criminal chop shop operation, but the show overplays its hand in terms of the drama and the plotline suffers. Taylor Kitsch doesn't have that much range, and when they give him those heightened moments of big emotion like when he's yelling at Billy about the risk this puts his family in, it goes over like a lead balloon. Kitsch hasn't really mastered the dramatic monolgue, and does well with quieter dramatic work or dry goofy comedy. Plus, we get more of the insufferable Becky there to make his acting look good by comparison and to add the uncomfortableness of 19/20 year old Tim making out with a 15 year old girl.
The one nice part of the story is when he runs into Luke and we get the payoff to "Fours" as Tim calls him injuring himself on his parents' ranch in the prior episode. The show's often taken devotion to the team for granted as a good thing (though Smash's steroid issue was a nice counterpoint), and it's nice to see it exploring how Luke is willing to do anything not to disappoint Coach, and how that leads him to taking pain medication from a shady football-loving doctor so he can play. I'm sure we'll hear more from this storyline, but it's interesting to explore the dark side of that devotion.
And then we have Tami and Julie's visit to an undisclosed Northeastern college. It's pretty standard issue teen drama stuff, of the "I don't want your life" variety, but Connie Britton and Aimee Teegarden sell it well enough. Julie's still reeling from her break up with Matt and the sense that her mom is pushing her into this school, and Tami is lost in the joy of being back on campus at her dream school and wanting the best for her daughter. Again, the friction between them is a bit trite, but it's solid enough. Julie's monologue about not realizing how glad she'd be to come from where she comes from is a nice sentiment, though the writing for the scene is a little on the nose, and the same goes for Tami's reciprocal "you're my dream" speech to Julie. But they're both nice moments, so an unspectacular storyline can coast on the goodwill of it.
Overall, it's a wobbly episode of the show, with some elements that worked quite well and others that were much more uneven.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-08-12T02:42:04Z
6.8/10. A lot of good stuff, and a lot of stuff that was kind of off combines to make an episode that's close to being good but not quite there.
Let's start out by focusing on the positives. The Lions get a win! It's well earned, and the show continues to do a great job of showing Coach Taylor's team gradually improving. If anything, the trajectory's a little too neat and tidy, with steady improvement coming in a way that rarely show's up in the box score so perfectly, but it's easily handwaveable for the demands of a weekly television show. The idea that they're only beating the worst team in the conference, and having to struggle a bit to do works well, especially with Vince's Bad Idea Bear friend showing up to cheer him on. That said, the people taunting them with toilets is a little odd in a "why did they come to our concert just to boo us?" sort of way, but it creates a nice "nobody believes in us" vibe that makes the eventual victory, cheered by the newly reconstituted booster club and new color commentator Buddy Garrity all the sweeter.
There's also a love triangle between Vince, Jess, and Landry, and I...don't hate it? I mean, I don't exactly love it, and I've railed against how love triangles are this show's default mode of exploring romance time and time again, but this one is fairly understated so far and it works well enough to show how Vince and Landry are two very different people but that Jess could have a connection with them both. Again, this show's stumbled when handling racial issues before, so I'm a little hesitant about the "going outside your community" subtext becoming text, but with both Vince and Landry playing around with Jess's siblings, there's a way in which they both make sense in her life and are endearing that makes the choice and the conflict seem legitimate instead of like manufactured drama.
Unfortunately, we get more into manufactured drama with Tim's storyline here. There should be something tragic about Tim trying to find a straight job so he can buy his dream ranch, coming up short, and falling into his brother's criminal chop shop operation, but the show overplays its hand in terms of the drama and the plotline suffers. Taylor Kitsch doesn't have that much range, and when they give him those heightened moments of big emotion like when he's yelling at Billy about the risk this puts his family in, it goes over like a lead balloon. Kitsch hasn't really mastered the dramatic monolgue, and does well with quieter dramatic work or dry goofy comedy. Plus, we get more of the insufferable Becky there to make his acting look good by comparison and to add the uncomfortableness of 19/20 year old Tim making out with a 15 year old girl.
The one nice part of the story is when he runs into Luke and we get the payoff to "Fours" as Tim calls him injuring himself on his parents' ranch in the prior episode. The show's often taken devotion to the team for granted as a good thing (though Smash's steroid issue was a nice counterpoint), and it's nice to see it exploring how Luke is willing to do anything not to disappoint Coach, and how that leads him to taking pain medication from a shady football-loving doctor so he can play. I'm sure we'll hear more from this storyline, but it's interesting to explore the dark side of that devotion.
And then we have Tami and Julie's visit to an undisclosed Northeastern college. It's pretty standard issue teen drama stuff, of the "I don't want your life" variety, but Connie Britton and Aimee Teegarden sell it well enough. Julie's still reeling from her break up with Matt and the sense that her mom is pushing her into this school, and Tami is lost in the joy of being back on campus at her dream school and wanting the best for her daughter. Again, the friction between them is a bit trite, but it's solid enough. Julie's monologue about not realizing how glad she'd be to come from where she comes from is a nice sentiment, though the writing for the scene is a little on the nose, and the same goes for Tami's reciprocal "you're my dream" speech to Julie. But they're both nice moments, so an unspectacular storyline can coast on the goodwill of it.
Overall, it's a wobbly episode of the show, with some elements that worked quite well and others that were much more uneven.