There were a few great, moving lines in this episode, but as usual it was the silences that spoke loudest. Two minutes, one line of dialog, and Death Cab for Cutie singing a lamentation.

The heartbreaking distance between Lyla and Tim contrasted with Tim’s undying loyalty and devotion to his brother. The Riggins boys make poor choices, do stupid things, and will inevitably self-destruct. But they’re all each other has. Let’s not forget who Billy is. It’s easy to think of him as comic relief, a sort of Landry-light, but this is a man in his 20s who’s given up everything for his brother. A man who sacrifices while his father skates, who sacrifices while his mother is forever in the wind.

Is Billy a joke? Or is Billy the most tragic man in Dillon? The way I see it, Street’s going to win Paralympic gold someday and marry some *other* homecoming queen. Billy’s going to be lucky to stay out of jail long enough to hear Finding Nemo quotes on his wedding day. The way I see it, Smash Momma’s gonna make her boy be the best man he can be. Maybe she pays for school and maybe all he gets is a degree, but she’ll be damned if he settles for Regional Manager at the Alamo Freeze. Billy’s never going anywhere. His one shot out, playing golf, is seven years past. All he can do is scrape and scam and hope to live vicariously through his brother before he drags his brother too deep in the mire to escape.

Likewise contrast our lovers reunited – their hearts aglow with passion enough to push aside even that final failure at the buzzer – with Coach and Mrs. Coach. The crushing weight of responsibility to family and school and town is too heavy for either to bear alone. They finally come together, Tami’s head resting on Eric’s shoulder giving him the strength to soldier on. Both bracing for the trials to come in the days and weeks ahead.

Without words, they all said so much.

See also: Joe McCoy at the buzzer with his little smirk. Of course if his precious baby boy had started the game it would have gone down differently. With his superior talent and training, JD would have…been crushed under the load Matt Saracen bore like a dray horse.

Everyone’s chafing under their loads this week, trying to live up to expectations and hype. Tim’s failing Lyla while his brother’s failing him. Eric and Tami are failing each other while Matt’s trying to beat Arnette-Mead, JD McCoy, Jason Street, and everyone else. Even little JD, source of so much grief for Coach and Matt, is suffering. He’s a stranger in this town, the kid no one likes.

His snide reaction to Matt and Julie had about 17 levels to it. He mocked his parents, mocked himself, told Matt to go fuck himself, and said how very much he hated living in Dillon with one joke about a bronzed diaper. Have I mentioned how much I like Jeremy Sumpter yet? Because this is what I’ve been waiting for: the writers to let him loose.

One final thought, though I could say so very, very much more:

I always got one more.

Goddamn right you do, Matt Saracen. Goddamn right you do.

I don’t care if he scored or not; Matt carried that team for four quarters. Matt was the entire offense for four quarters. Little Matty Saracen, who no one has ever believed in – not his father, the town, or even himself – stepped up with the eyes of Dillon watching and took his best shot. And goddamn it was a good shot.

What did y’all think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at Sketch War, his personal blog, Tumblr, and stalked on Twitter.

Tags: directv, nbc

posted by R.A. Porter in → Reviews