Well, I like the Coach's story here. The idea that he's embattled on all sides--from above, from below, and from the outside--and that he regains control his way, sticking to his principles as best he can, is a nice one. The wind sprints up the hill in the rain is a little too Hollywood, but it's some cool imagery and effective for what it's trying to convey: coach getting his point through to Smash and making his connection with Riggins. The way that Coach Taylor is getting crap from his players, crap from Garrety, and crap from randos at the diner and that this is his release and response and way of getting through. Again, there was some cheese to it, but I liked the conflict and the way it was resolved.
But man, the Dawson's Creek stuff is killing me. Thus far, the coach's daughter is the only one of the younger characters who can act. Jason Street's angrily telling his girlfriend off was painfully bad, and the only thing worse in the episode was Lyla and Riggins' slap-slap-kiss crap in the rain. I mean, this is soap opera-level bad stuff all around. Tyra's fit at Riggins escapes looking worse only because of the company it keeps. The plot lines are pure cheese (how convenient! four people break up and two of them get together!) and the acting doesn't help.
The only other good part of the episode is the stuff with Matt and Mrs. Taylor, that dovetails into the new QB. I like the idea of Mrs. Taylor being worried about his schoolwork and well-being with Matt having to support his dementia-suffering grandmother while his dad's in Iraq on the one hand, and Coach having to get him up to football-speed on the other, and having a new Katrina refugee stud throws an interesting wildcard into the mix. My only concern is that the inevitable conflict comes to a head in an on-the-nose scene between the husband and wife, rather than the subtle interactions we've had so far.
Overall, there was a decent amount to like about this one, but the teenager guilt/relationship/anger stuff came off really poorly and the episode really suffered for it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-06-17T02:59:41Z
Well, I like the Coach's story here. The idea that he's embattled on all sides--from above, from below, and from the outside--and that he regains control his way, sticking to his principles as best he can, is a nice one. The wind sprints up the hill in the rain is a little too Hollywood, but it's some cool imagery and effective for what it's trying to convey: coach getting his point through to Smash and making his connection with Riggins. The way that Coach Taylor is getting crap from his players, crap from Garrety, and crap from randos at the diner and that this is his release and response and way of getting through. Again, there was some cheese to it, but I liked the conflict and the way it was resolved.
But man, the Dawson's Creek stuff is killing me. Thus far, the coach's daughter is the only one of the younger characters who can act. Jason Street's angrily telling his girlfriend off was painfully bad, and the only thing worse in the episode was Lyla and Riggins' slap-slap-kiss crap in the rain. I mean, this is soap opera-level bad stuff all around. Tyra's fit at Riggins escapes looking worse only because of the company it keeps. The plot lines are pure cheese (how convenient! four people break up and two of them get together!) and the acting doesn't help.
The only other good part of the episode is the stuff with Matt and Mrs. Taylor, that dovetails into the new QB. I like the idea of Mrs. Taylor being worried about his schoolwork and well-being with Matt having to support his dementia-suffering grandmother while his dad's in Iraq on the one hand, and Coach having to get him up to football-speed on the other, and having a new Katrina refugee stud throws an interesting wildcard into the mix. My only concern is that the inevitable conflict comes to a head in an on-the-nose scene between the husband and wife, rather than the subtle interactions we've had so far.
Overall, there was a decent amount to like about this one, but the teenager guilt/relationship/anger stuff came off really poorly and the episode really suffered for it.