About:
Last week, Meredith C. asked yay or nay to The Giving Tree, and I hate to admit this about something so divisive since I truly love to take sides, but I’ve never actually read it. Don’t kick me out of the FYA club, please.
Previously, J.D.’s dad demanded he take a break from girls, but J.D. continued sneaking around with Madison. Buddy lost Lyla’s college fund on a bad investment (and trashed The Landing Strip) and she did not take it well. Tyra asked Landry to help her study for the SAT.
Let’s refresh ourselves on those handy drinking game rules. We’re gonna need them.
The Official FYA Friday Night Lights Season 3 Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
You want to give Matt Saracen a hug
Tami Taylor drinks a glass of wine
Tami Taylor says “y’all”
Landry Clarke goes off on a tangent
You’re Team Tyra Collette
Buddy Garrity makes you roll your eyes
You think, “It’s JUST football, people.”
Gracie appears in a scene
You want to punch Joe McCoy in the face
Grandma Saracen gets riled up
Billy and Mindy are too much but you love ‘em anyway
You tear up
Drink twice every time:
The Panthers score a touchdown
Tim and/or Billy Riggins makes poor choices
There’s a classic Coach Taylor pep talk
You think, “Cash is bad news.”
Devin is the shit
Take a shot every time you hear:
“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”
“Texas Forever.”
Finish your drink when:
Hands slap the Panther “P”
Smash gets into college
On to the episode!
3.11 “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”
While helping Mindy and Billy register for wedding presents, Tyra is informed that Mindy wants a “classy” bridal shower and Tyra will be hosting a tea party for her. Landry runs into Tyra at the store where she’s shopping for Mindy’s tea party. He tells her the Crucifictorious has scored another upcoming gig and lets himself get roped into helping her make scones for the shower. She has him helping her load rental tables and chairs for the outdoor tea party in December they agree is a bad idea on par with marrying Billy Riggins when Mindy calls. Landry takes the phone and cuts her off saying they have in under control and Tyra seems to dig his take-charge attitude. When he helps her prep cucumber sandwiches like a simp, she shows him her SAT scores. Her score went up, but it’s not as much improvement as she’d like to see to make up for prior years of bad grades. Landry very sweetly tells her that most girls who look like she does are content to coast by on their good looks and that he’s proud of her for how hard she works. Unlike me, Tyra manages not to cry when he tells her that. Immediately after they finish setting up the tea party on the back deck, a thunderstorm rolls in that anybody could have seen was coming. He helps her relocate everything indoors, earning a kiss on the cheek, and gets to ogle a few strippers arriving for the party on his way out the door. At the shower, Mindy gives a lovely toast to Tyra for hosting and says she looks up to her baby sister and hopes Tyra one day finds a man as hot as Billy Riggins. Bless Mindy’s heart.
Lyla hanging out in a flannel shirt, drinking beer, and playing video games with Billy and Mindy is a disturbing new development. It’s like she’s part Riggins now. She even turns down the opportunity to join Tim in bed to stay up playing games. Like, who even does that? The next morning, Tim heads off to school but can’t drag Lyla out of bed. I don’t like this role reversal. Buddy stops by after football practice trying to recruit Tim to help him get Lyla to forgive him and move back home. Tim tells Buddy he needs to give her more time and Buddy actually seems to be listening. I guess he figures anyone who’s gotten Lyla to forgive them as many times as Tim would be the expert. Lyla stops by Buddy’s to grab more clothes and finds her acceptance letter from Vanderbilt, which makes her even less interested in talking to him since she won’t be able to go now that he lost her college money. I mean, scholarships and loans exist, Lyla, but as someone about to send their kid off to college, I get it. Private out-of-state schools are expensive as hell.
At the smallest school board meeting ever, parents are not happy about the redistricting idea. But Tami tells them that as far as she understands it, the state won’t give them any funds unless they do it. Eric is concerned that half of his team lives on the other side of the dividing line and would end up playing for East Dillon if it passes. Joe McCoy and the Panther boosters pour over maps at the booster steakhouse, deciding how the school redistricting should be gerrymandered like they’re a bunch of Texas legislators. Buddy confirms to Eric that the official district line is a specific street, but the boosters and their cronies will make sure things are arranged to the Panthers’ advantage. Joe also manages to get in a dig about Buddy’s money troubles and his trashing of The Landing Strip. Nice friends ya got, Buddy, The expression on Eric’s face correctly clocks this whole deal as shady. When he confronts Buddy about it later, Buddy tells him not to worry about it and that it doesn’t matter if Eric has objections because none of them are bigger than the Dillon Panthers and none of the boosters are going to sit by and let the team be dismantled. Later in the week, Tami tells Eric she’s heard the redistricting map is getting redrawn in zigzagging ways all because of football. But when she asks Eric if he knows anything about it, he plays dumb, which does not seem like a great move here.
Shelby and Grandma Saracen bicker while heading to the grocery store when Grandma realizes she forgot her purse and exits a moving vehicle and ends up taking a tumble. Poor Matt is freaked out, but luckily she’s fine except for some scratches and bruises. But the doctor does tell Matt that due to her deteriorating mental condition, he should look for other living arrangements. Shelby wants to ask questions about assisted living facilities but Matt won’t hear of it and lashes out at her. Back home, Grandma Saracen is clearly having dementia issues and becomes combative about it before dissolving into tears. This is way too much for poor baby Matt to deal with. Shelby finds Matt after his game to tell him he played well, which allows him to apologize and tell her he needs help finding care for his Grandma and he doesn’t want Shelby to leave. She tells him she isn’t going anywhere.
Madison watches J.D. at football practice like a lovesick teenager or like a creep. J.D., who has absolutely zero game, is distracted by her during his brief break and both of his coaches tell him to get his head back in the game. Later, Joe gets a call from that narc, Coach Wade, about J.D. being distracted at practice and Joe goes on and on bitching to Katie about J.D. not ditching Madison like he was supposed to. Of course, she doesn’t think it’s a big deal if her 15-year-old son has a social life, but Joe thinks it’s an act of treason. The next day, Madison tells J.D. that his dad called her parents and told them she’s a bad influence on his precious son. Poor J.D. How mortifying. But it doesn’t seem to have deterred her in the slightest. On the way to the post-game dinner, Joe loses his shit over J.D. talking to Madison on the phone and his football ‘roid rage spills over into the Applebee’s parking lot where he and J.D. getting into an argument that leads to shoving and Joe tossing J.D. against the back of the car while yelling in his face. Meanwhile, Katie is screaming at him to stop. Coach and Tami, having seen it from the restaurant window, run out to help and Eric has to pull Joe off J.D.. It’s way too intense about his school football. (But yes, it’s clear Joe has all kinds of violent anger issues.)
At the Taylor house, Tami comforts a crying Katie on the sofa, who wonders what she’s supposed to do now. Outside, Coach sits with J.D. who tells him that nothing he does is ever good enough and he doesn’t want to go back to that house. Coach assures J.D. that he and his mom will stay the night and figure things out but none of this is his fault.
How many times do I have to take a drink?
26. Between Joe McCoy and the impending Riggins nuptials, there was plenty to drink about.
Did the Panthers win?
The Panthers played a rough game in the rain and mud against West Cambria complete with Joe McCoy yelling at J.D. from the stands and ruining the crowd’s vibe. Between Coach’s ballsy strategy and Saracen and Riggins making some good plays, they pull out a win. The Panthers are going to state, y’all!
MVP of the Week
After the bridal shower, Tyra breaks down and cries to Angela, wondering what’s wrong with her that she can’t want what Mindy and Billy have. They seem so happy but that’s not what she wants. Angela gives a great speech about how surprising and special she is and how she’s going to make her dreams happen. A little out of character? Possibly. But it’s still so nice to see Angela being the mom Tyra needs for once.
Best Taylor Couple Moment
Sure, the Taylors step in and deal with the McCoy drama and respectively offer comfort to J.D. and Katie, but my favorite moment is early in the episode when Tami and Coach are discussing the upcoming school board meeting. Tami has been reading up on this and thinks that redistricting is imminent and a school will be opening in East Dillon. Coach thinks nothing ever comes of this discussion every year and that people don’t like change and confusion. (Miraculously, they’re both right.) And we learn that Tami has no problem drinking the last of the coffee creamer and not apologizing for it. That’s right, girl!
Tim Riggins’ Finest Moment
Tim continues showing more maturity this week when he takes Lyla to church “to cheer her up”, possibly hoping she could find comfort in religion again since she’s obviously struggling now. But she refuses to be cheered up and storms out crying (without actually shedding any tears), upset that she let the rest of her family move without her and now she has no one. Tim hugs her and tells her she does. Later in the week, after opting for a night in over celebratory partying, Tim gives Lyla a pep talk worthy of Eric Taylor when he tells her he wants her to stop moping and go to college if that’s what she wants because there are scholarships and state schools and she has the grades. He also launches a thousand Tumblr blogs when he tells her he loves her in the most Tim way possible.
The Taylor Advice of the Week
Eric’s observational skills pay off when he sees J.D. getting pummeled with advice from the stands during the big game and pulls him aside to remind him to have fun out there. It is just football, y’all!
Post-Game Breakdown
- Is it just me or did the Panthers get to state FAST? Where were the playoff games, the away games? These shorter seasons make it a little hard to buy that they made it there again so quickly.
- On rewatch, I am so rooting for Katie McCoy to leave that asshat and take him to the cleaners.
- I love the way Shelby doesn’t try to tell Matt how anything needs to be handled but is just trying to help lighten his load. I know we’ve got issues with the woman, but this is a decent way to make amends.
- If I were a guest at Mindy’s mad tea party, I think I’d opt for beer over tea like many of her girls did. What about you?
And my final question for Meredith B. next week (and you, should you choose to accept this challenge) do we really believe Billy and Mindy would make it for the long haul?
Be sure to join us next week for the penultimate season three episode, “Underdogs”.
– Man, that speech Angela gave Tyra made me TEAR UP. I didn’t even care that it was out of character (because yes, it was).
– I really loved your observation about Shelby doesn’t try to tell Matt what to do; she just tries to support him. She really is making up for a lot here!
– Tami finishing the coffee creamer and saying, “But you can have some of mine! It’s delicious,” made me chuckle.