TVSquad

(S01E10) Each week I am amazed at how they are able to keep so many characters so involved in each episode. While Lyla's ongoing struggle dominated the episode, we still managed to get some movement in the other stories as well. It was interesting how they went about telling the "It's different for girls." story from the title. While the bigger parts of the story were about Lyla and Julie, the real meaning of that title points much more to what we saw with Buddy and Eric.

Here are two men who spend their days in control, exerting authority. We see it with Buddy at the dealership, complete with his bluetooth headset, and with Eric in everything he does as a coach. But the minute the subject of their teenage daughters comes up, and there is a real issue to deal with, they both are at a loss. Floundering to try and do something, anything, without being able to step back and see the big picture. I thought the scene between Buddy and Britney's father was great. A humble man trying to do the right thing. So much story is conveyed in Buddy's crushed reaction. These last two weeks have really filled out the Buddy character. He's so much more interesting now that he's not the one trick sleazeball we first met.

Lyla is certainly getting more than she deserves, but I like the way the story has played out. At the end of the day I still think she'll end up with Street. But their path is no longer the hearts and flowers fairy tale it once seemed to be. Riggins doing what he can to help Lyla by going to Street, and then convincing her to go to the competition showed a lot of growth for him. And while it did rap up this part of her story rather quickly, it was hard not to like that ending. It was good to see her own her mistakes and move on. "Yeah, the whore with the website." And it was good to see her happy again. Lyla is just cuter than a bag full of kittens.

Of course, Coach Taylor has his own daughter issues. "At least she's not dating one of the Riggins" has long since passed. It's pretty clear that there isn't anyone worthy of dating Eric Taylor's little girl. I feel a little bad for Saracen because he seems to have unwittingly become the pawn in this power struggle between Julie and Eric. I suspect that eventually Tami's voice of reason will win out and Eric will come to his senses, while Julie tones it down just a bit. He should be jumping for joy that given all the possible choices, Julie has chosen Saracen. But until that time, it's sure fun to watch the train wreck. The scenes surrounding the impromptu television watching visit were priceless. Tami pushing Eric's buttons, "They're probably having sex." And then stating the obvious when he breaks out his blanket evidence. "You're an idiot." I also really liked the Matt chats.

Elsewhere, Smash continues his slide with the performance enhancing drugs. He's getting the results he wanted, as shown by his improved 40 times, but at what price. The nosebleeds are a sign of much worse things to come, I'm sure. The addition of Aasha Davis (from South of Nowhere on The-N) adds a new and interesting twist to the mix. She saw right through Smash's S.A.T studies game, but she has a little mystery of her own. My bet is that she was sent away to have a baby. And "Africa" was probably a code word for Aunt FRida's In CAlifornia, or some such. Get your guesses in now.

Speaking of new characters, apparently that was Maggie Wheeler that we saw when Tami was at the book club meeting in "Eyes Wide Open." This week we discover that she is one of the teachers. I have to think that if they hired someone who is a fairly accomplished actress for the role that there must be more coming for her. That' s a little surprising given just how big this cast is already, but I like Wheeler a lot, so I'm willing to give it a chance. The head cheerleader coach, Suzanne (Rebecca McFarland - Two and a Half Men), looks to be another new character that could be recurring. She got some nice scenes.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, there was a game this week. I like that they finally had a blowout where they just walked all over a team. Any big time program in any sport is going to have those, so it was nice to see that just from a realism standpoint. Passing up game footage and telling the story with everyone catching the highlights was a fresh way to give us that information, and it probably saved a bundle on production. But aside from being a new and interesting method, I think it also gave us a hint at what is to become of Street. You probably noticed that he had game film running when Riggins came to visit as well. My guess is that he is going to join Coach Taylor's staff, probably sooner rather than later.

Overall, another great episode. The show continues to impress week after week. Now, if only that translated into viewers...