6.5/10. Oh Tim Riggins. This is basically the storyline I feared we were getting when Tim first met his dad. Whereas in that first episode, the show shied away from the usual bad dad cliches and showed a much simpler, more down-to-earth story about a wayward youth reconnecting with his estranged father, this was the standard issue Hallmark Channel "letting your son down" nonsense. Every beat of this damn story was predictable, from the purloined equipment, to Tim initially defending his pop, to the inevitable reveal and downward spiral that ends in a barfight and an apology. At the end of the day, so much of this show comes down to the acting, because the stories it tells end up feeling so generic, that everything rises and falls based on the performances. The actor who plays Walt makes a believable deadbeat, but Tim is the focus of this episode, and the actor who plays him just doesn't have the chops to pull off the affection, doubt, and inner turmoil necessary to make this story work.
In the same way, the story of a young girl deciding she wants to have sex and dealing with the fall out gives me flashbacks to Boy Meets World (a show that I loved, but which isn't exactly a paragon of either novelty or subtlety.) That means that storyline should fail just as miserably as Tim's did. But the difference is that Matt and Julie come off as such believable young teens who care about each other that despite the cliche qualities of the storyline, the individual moments feel real and that let's you get away with a lot. The same goes for Coach and Tami. Again, parents worrying over their daughter becoming sexually active is a huge cliche. But man, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton sell the hell out of worry, the anger, the fear, of sitting up, trying not to blame each other, trying to respond appropriately, and trying to hope that you raised your child right so that they'll make the right decisions.
The resolution to both stories is a little pat, but they work. Matt telling Julie that they don't have to do this, in a way that resolves Julie's fears that this is what's necessary to keep a football-playing boyfriend is sweet and relatable, even if the exchange of "I love you"s at the end is a predictable beat. Still, it exchanges one romance milestone for another and that works. Similarly, the fact that after all the doubt and Coach's recriminations directed at his wife, Julie effectively tells her mom that her speech worked is again, a bit too neat, but it's still a nice moment of parental trust and triumph. The Taylors are one of the most realistic families on television, and the way their interactions are sold helps make the show.
Unfortunately, we still have to deal with Jason Street and Tyra's mom. From the minute Jason had his meetcute with Suzie that tattoo artist, the rest of this story became predictable. They were going to hook up, and it was going to be another sign that Jason was done with his old life, and didn't care about Lyla enough, and my god how are we still wasting time on this. Presumably Jason's headed to eventual hezrtbreak with quad rugby. (His scene with Tami from the prior episode points that direction.) But I just can't muster enough energy to care about him anymore. Similarly, the beats for Tyra's mom working for Buddy were clear from the word go, and while maybe there's something interesting to mine from Tyra and Lyla being connected through this, for the most part this was a paint-by-numbers progression from the beginning, and never rises above that.
Overall, the main story, the one that gives the episode it's title, is good enough to pull the episode into quality territory, but basically everything else in the episode is an unimaginative cliche to begin with or a predictable drag.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-06-30T02:19:17Z
6.5/10. Oh Tim Riggins. This is basically the storyline I feared we were getting when Tim first met his dad. Whereas in that first episode, the show shied away from the usual bad dad cliches and showed a much simpler, more down-to-earth story about a wayward youth reconnecting with his estranged father, this was the standard issue Hallmark Channel "letting your son down" nonsense. Every beat of this damn story was predictable, from the purloined equipment, to Tim initially defending his pop, to the inevitable reveal and downward spiral that ends in a barfight and an apology. At the end of the day, so much of this show comes down to the acting, because the stories it tells end up feeling so generic, that everything rises and falls based on the performances. The actor who plays Walt makes a believable deadbeat, but Tim is the focus of this episode, and the actor who plays him just doesn't have the chops to pull off the affection, doubt, and inner turmoil necessary to make this story work.
In the same way, the story of a young girl deciding she wants to have sex and dealing with the fall out gives me flashbacks to Boy Meets World (a show that I loved, but which isn't exactly a paragon of either novelty or subtlety.) That means that storyline should fail just as miserably as Tim's did. But the difference is that Matt and Julie come off as such believable young teens who care about each other that despite the cliche qualities of the storyline, the individual moments feel real and that let's you get away with a lot. The same goes for Coach and Tami. Again, parents worrying over their daughter becoming sexually active is a huge cliche. But man, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton sell the hell out of worry, the anger, the fear, of sitting up, trying not to blame each other, trying to respond appropriately, and trying to hope that you raised your child right so that they'll make the right decisions.
The resolution to both stories is a little pat, but they work. Matt telling Julie that they don't have to do this, in a way that resolves Julie's fears that this is what's necessary to keep a football-playing boyfriend is sweet and relatable, even if the exchange of "I love you"s at the end is a predictable beat. Still, it exchanges one romance milestone for another and that works. Similarly, the fact that after all the doubt and Coach's recriminations directed at his wife, Julie effectively tells her mom that her speech worked is again, a bit too neat, but it's still a nice moment of parental trust and triumph. The Taylors are one of the most realistic families on television, and the way their interactions are sold helps make the show.
Unfortunately, we still have to deal with Jason Street and Tyra's mom. From the minute Jason had his meetcute with Suzie that tattoo artist, the rest of this story became predictable. They were going to hook up, and it was going to be another sign that Jason was done with his old life, and didn't care about Lyla enough, and my god how are we still wasting time on this. Presumably Jason's headed to eventual hezrtbreak with quad rugby. (His scene with Tami from the prior episode points that direction.) But I just can't muster enough energy to care about him anymore. Similarly, the beats for Tyra's mom working for Buddy were clear from the word go, and while maybe there's something interesting to mine from Tyra and Lyla being connected through this, for the most part this was a paint-by-numbers progression from the beginning, and never rises above that.
Overall, the main story, the one that gives the episode it's title, is good enough to pull the episode into quality territory, but basically everything else in the episode is an unimaginative cliche to begin with or a predictable drag.