Deers and Beers

We open up the week with Tammi listening to here critics in another round of "Slammin Tammi" on the Slammin' Sammy radio show. She continues to come under fire for her decision to enforce the transfer of Luke to East, but through all the fire she has looked great. Maybe it's Maybelline, I don't know, but her hair looked amazing this week.

Eric walks into work and has to deal with some heat of his own. Principal Eli remarks sarcastically, "I see you finished a game Friday night, ra ra ra sick boom ba." Eric is unflappable though and ignores the dig and instead inquires about pep rallies. The pep rally was great and the speech the Deacon delivers was moving. I don't know about you, but I was yelling "Pride" at the TV.

The Billy and Tim scene was one of the best ever. "Yeah! Deers and Beers two days away let's get after it!" Mindy yells at Tim for having guns in the house and he comes back like only Tim can with "Mins I don't think they're loaded, we're fine." Billy the dutiful husband asks Tim to put the guns away in the corner or something because Mindy isn't supposed to have any stress around her. Tim shows his empathy by asking "Where's the gun cleaner?" Billy assures Mindy that it's OK and he can go hunting anytime to which Tim protests "No we can't, that's why it's called Hunting Season!" Billy mind you is wearing a faded tee shirt from The Landing Strip through out the whole scene.

When Tim walks into Panther Pizza, Saracen can't help but smile. Tim doesn't skip a beat calling him "7," as he points out that Matt is now slingin dough instead of 60 yard bombs. Pretty sure he didn't pay for that pizza he picked up either, but he did say Thank You.

Tim keeps the free pizza karma in balance as he is the good samaritan once again as he helps Becky find a pageant dress. "What's that saying, doesn't the dress find you?" Tim tells her how his mother never took him shopping to buy a pageant dress, so he never placed at Ms. Texas and that's why he got into football. So mothers the moral of the story here is, if you don't want to let your sons grow up to be cowboys, take them shopping.


Landry falls back into the role of chauffeur, but hopefully this time it's different than it was with Tyra from the start. Loved how he tries to get the girls into Crucifictorious, but is snubbed. Now I know I'm old, but when did high school kids start throwing parties on weeknights during a school week? In the Fall no less. Loved the over sized snifter of beer and I loved the "Warriors" tee shirt Corn Rows was wearing. Great reference. The Warriors was a film made in 1979 about a gang called The Warriors, who are framed for killing a gang leader trying to unite all the gangs in the area. I wonder if the shirt was just a random piece of wardrobe or if it's a reference to Eric trying to unite the Lions under one banner.
Buddy and Eric have a heart to heart at the bar. Buddy tells Eric he is sorry "about all of it." We see in Buddy a man without a home. Boosterism comes from the heart and Buddy right now feels empty without a team to rally behind. Man does he come to the rescue though when he shows up at Eric's house for the dinner. The initial look on Eric's face is one of dread, but none of us had any idea just how far the legacy of Buddy Garrity reached. "Honey Buddy's here!" No one hit harder than Buddy Garrity apparently and no one is a more loyal friend. For all the headaches, Buddy has proven to always be there for Eric.

First and foremost though, Eric and Tammi are there for each other. Following the dinner Eric gets "stuck to the couch," like we all do after a big meal. No matter what's going on in their individual careers they are always there for each other. Tammi's car got vandalized but the Taylor family has seen the ugly side of football fans before. Like back in season one when an angry Panther fan approached Julie at the Alamo Freeze and insults her father before Eric comes up and gets in his face. There were also the white flags on the lawn this year. I read some criticisms of Eric for not coming to Tammi's defense. Eric is there for his family, and Tammi is a strong independent woman capable of taking care of herself. End of the day she and Eric are always there to comfort and support one another. Don't get it twisted.

Eric is there for his kids too. What a great move he pulled to get Luke and Vince out of jail. Going back to the fight, what a wuss J.D. was. QB1's don't run from the cops. Just further indication of how brutal that kid is. Moving on, Eric delivers a great speech to his two players while driving them home, "You get one chance in life fellas....get out...get out of the car." Then let's his actions do the talking. Man Eric just loves leaving players on the side of the road doesn't he. The proof is in the pudding I guess.


Speaking of Tim, he and Matt go hunting. "Eyes peeled, light feet." Sort of the hunting version of clear eyes, full hearts I guess. The #33 on Tim's hunting hat was amazing. Drinking beers by the fire, toasting to Texas Forever, reminds me of the very first episode where Tim and Jason Street are sitting by the fire with Lyla.


Julie and Devin check out Steers the local gay bar. Julie is an amazing friend y'all if you haven't figured it out. She was pretty naive when we first met her in season one but she has really come into her own. She sees the assistant coach there playing pool and just waves. No look of shock, no judging. I wondered aloud if the bar name "Steers" is a tongue in cheek reference to a line from "Full Metal Jacket." The drill sergeant famously played by R. Lee Ermey upon hearing one of his marines is from Texas goes "Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down." I thought the bar looked pretty cool. Britney blaring, pool tables, energy drinks...I'm in.

Matt and Julie's relationship is under fire yet again as she is beginning to look at colleges and Matt feels like he is stuck in Dillon. The death of his father is going to weigh heavy on our man's shoulders. Everyone leaves him. His mother although back in his life left him. His father left him for the war and is now gone. Grandma Saracen is slipping more and more each day and now Julie will be leaving soon enough. He wants to be an artist though and from these harsh realities I think he will pull something amazing out. We may see a somewhat downward spiral from him in the upcoming weeks but don't worry, he isn't going over to the "Dark Side" just yet.

The closing scenes are some of the most powerful we've ever seen on the show. From the music playing and the shots of Matt in Tim's truck, to Grandma and Julie's reactions to the news of Matt's father's death, Peter Berg puts together a heart felt finale to a great episode. I received emails over the weekend that there wasn't enough football this week. Going back and watching the episode a second time I realized that there were actually a number of scenes shot on the practice field. I think the gravity of the closing scene just left us wanting an escape. Like the people of Dillon, we needed a football game to brighten our day. Funny how that worked out.

Hope this tides you over until Friday. Till then, Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!