1x20 Mud Bowl

7.5/10. My minor but still significant complaint about this episode is that from the opening moments where the man on the radio notes that if the Panthers win, they'll likely face Voodoo and his team in the state finals, you knew Dillon was going to win the semi-final game. It's too narratively satisfying a match up for it to end up any other way.

But that fact notwithstanding, the build up to the "mud bowl' was an enjoyable one. Again, it's not particularly subtle, but the way the episode draws out the contrast between the scrappy Dillon Panthers, who build their own football field out in a cow pasture, vs. the Brandt Vikings, who have a fancy 12,000-person stadium with new turf, does a nice job at making our heroes seem like the humble underdogs in a game that you just know they're going to win. It's a nice way to show Coach Taylor not only trying to hold on to his homefield advantage, but trying to hold onto his soul and feed his team some humble pie with all the hype, sponsorships, and secret envelopes floating around. The direction and editing of the game itself were very well done, as they communicated the knock-down, drag-out filth of the contest in the muck. The victory was sweet, as were the post-game reunions between the players and their various paramours, and interesting recurring motif.

I do not, however, know how I feel about the way the Tyra rape scene was intercut with scenes from the game. Conceptually, I like it. It's an interesting way of using the character on the show who most seemed to acknowledge and understand that there was a world beyond football to show that even in the midst of great battle and triumph on the gridiron, there are smaller, more personal horrors going on while everyone's eyes are fixed on the field. That said, I'm always leery of rape as drama. Some shows, like The Sopranos, use it in ways that feel organic to the narrative and important for character development and growth, but here it felt a little gimmicky, a little off, and I can't explain why exactly. Maybe it's just the ten-car pileup of storylines this show's had going over the season, but in some ways, Tyra being sexually assaulted felt like a cheap attempt to heighten the drama and throw another obstacle her way rather than to earnestly explore the topic and present it in an unsensationalized, plainly horrific way. Obviously a lot depends on the aftermath, but that choice made it uneasy.

That said, I did appreciate the dynamic between her and Landry. Her sudden turn around to wanting to date him was a bit quick, but there is a good chemistry between them, and the contrasts between the two of them give the story a lot of places to go. Obviously recovering from being sexually assaulted throws a big monkey wrench into that story, but we'll see where it goes.

The rest of the episode was mostly scattered bits of stories in the build to those big two. We get more Jason Street, which is what it is. His fight with Lyla was predictable and uninspired; the resolution to the whole lawsuit thing felt really convenient, corny, and tidy. But the idea of him as a coach has promise, even if I'm tired of following the characters trials and travails.

Otherwise, we mostly just check in briefly on other stories. Brian's scene with Wavery is one of the best of the episode, and Gaius Charles continues to impress me with his acting abilities. The way he expresses his love but also his concern in the face of Waverly's anger was powerful, and while Lyla and Waverly hanging out didn't do much for me, that scene in particular gives me hope for where this story is going. Riggins is continuing his Jerry MaGuire story, and it continues to feel like a warmed over bit of The OC or something, but given how quickly stories progress on this show, I'm sure he'll have moved on to his next one within a couple of episodes after this one goes south as Billy predicts. And the fact that Julie can't tell Matt she might be leaving adds some nice tension and pathos to their moments together.

For the most part, however, this was about the two main events: one that included practically the whole town and had a great moment of triumph, and the other that just involved tragedy and had a significant, if somewhat troublingly executed moment of tragedy. It's an interesting episode that I'm not 100% sure how I feel about.