TVSquad

(S01E08) Who needs a football game? Sandwiched between the big homecoming game from the last episode, and the 'toughest game of the year' in the next one, this episode managed to be great with only one brief stop at Panther practice. The characters and their story are just so good that the games don't matter. That's a good sign, because the football season seems to be moving along much faster than the television season. But there will still be plenty of story to tell when the track team takes over the field.

We got something of an answer as to why Tim lives with his brother this week. They didn't really spell it out, but we get the idea. The details aren't important though, as finding out served the purpose of more development for Billy. I really liked the way this played out. As we learn more, Billy is a different person than he appeared to be early in the series. He certainly has his flaws, but he does have Tim's best interests at heart. It seemed that he was going to Coach Taylor for advice for purely selfless reasons. And with the gift he brought to dinner, while it was odd (knives?), it showed that he is trying. And speaking of the dinner, Tami had a great line, "What do you want me to cook for dinner when the Riggins boys come over. Should I slaughter a goat?"

You have to feel for Billy when learning about their absentee father, and realizing the mountain of responsibility that was heaped on him. Before he could take care of himself he was saddled with Tim. They get bonus points for realism with the fight. Wrestling through the chips and the TV is much more realistic than the take 20 bare knuckled punches slugfests you see all too often. It all tied together nicely with the peas too. It was great to see them patch things up, but I can't help but think that somewhere down the line Pa Riggins is going to come calling.

That wasn't the only problem for Tim this week though. The train wreck you knew was coming in the Street/Lyla/Tim triangle finally hit this week. Clearly this wasn't the end of it, but things will never be the same. It did mark a turning point for Street. I think that with confronting this, and playing the murderball game he has finally come to grips with his situation and can now really get on with things. Not in the pretend way he was. It's all finally sunk in and is real now. His interactions with all the guys at the center, the race scene with Herc in the hall, and his talk with Coach Taylor were all great scenes. The best though, was the scrimmage. Aside from being a great looking scene, it was a great moment for Street. Capped off perfectly with The Stooges song "Search and Destroy."

I'm still undecided on the Smash steroids story. It still seems like it could go off the rails. The scene with Mrs. Williams was good, and brought one of many great lines in the episode. "Get your lazy ass upstairs and start reading. How's that for your SAT prep course?" Good advice, because clearly he has no future as a criminal. That was the most ill conceived, poorly planned robbery ever. I'm glad that Saracen called him out on it. For a minute, when they were passing the collection while the minister spoke, I thought Smash was going to do the right thing. It sure didn't look like that was the case when he went to meet the bodybuilder chick though.

The courtship of Eric's daughter continued, and it has become one of my favorite stories. Right from the get go with Landry's crazy philosophy, "If you look at a girl like a geometry proof, the answer is right in front of you." And when Julie walked in, "Sharpen your pencil buddy, pop quiz." It's just so amusing watching the nervous Saracen and the shy Julie awkwardly make their way through that conversation. And, of course, it led to all kinds of Taylor family drama. Watching Eric and Tami try to deal with something that they really have no control of was great. Their scenes together are always so good. It was a little surprising that Tami seemed more concerned about it than Eric. "Our daughter reads Melville. The only thing she hates more than football is football players." The awww moment of the episode came during the ping pong game in the garage. Eric summed up all of his feelings in regards to the inevitable dating daughter, "You're beautiful, you're sensitive, you're sweet, and I don't want to see you get hurt." And Julie responded, "I love you too Dad." Awwww, right? I was a little disappointed that they gave away the big moment from the next episode in the preview, but they need the ratings I guess.

This was my favorite episode so far. And that's saying a lot, because so much of this show has been so good. I'm already looking forward to the next episode.