This season had its ups and downs.
To the old characters first (sans Matt):
Tim (Taylor Kitsch) takes no time to drop out of college, leaving it behind in just the first episode. His brother, Billy (Derek Phillips) is furious at him for doing so and punishes him by not making him partner at Riggin's Rigs. But bigger problems arise. Mindy (Stacey Oristano) goes into premature labor and without medical insurance, they cannot afford the medical bills. Billy strikes a deal with a bad apple and starts an illegal chop shop. Just when things seem to be winding down and settling down, Tim buys some land that he had his eye on and Mindy has the baby, Steven Hannibal (yes, I kid you not), they are caught. But Tim, even though he entered this only reluctantly, decides to sacrifice himself so Billy can remain with his family. I'll get to more about him later, but for now, Tim is off to jail.
Lyla (Minka Kelly) appears in only two episodes. Though she still loves Tim very much, she must return to college and they have a sad farewell at the bus station. She is not mentioned again.
Landry (Jesse Plemons) is a senior at East Dillon where he is turned into the kicker, and this is met with mixed-success. He finally ends things with Tyra, who is never seen and mentioned only once, and that's in a deleted scene.
Julie (Aimee Teegarden) becomes obsessed with Habitat for Humanity and wants to join this as a team leader but naturally, her parents won't let her and I can't blame them in the least. She should finish high school first.
Now I'll get to the new characters:
At the first practice, the police bring Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan) up to Eric (Kyle Chandler). They want him to join the team so he won't be shipped off to juvie. Vince proves to be a valuable player, despite having never played before. He tries to do well, but it's difficult with temptation all around him, plus his mother is battling a dangerous drug addiction. Vince breaks ties with his gang friends, but in order to pay for his mother's rehab, he must rejoin them in their dangerous activities. He leaves for good after his one friend gets shot. He has found an escape.
Jess (the great Jurnee Smolett) is the new girl. She must deal with her father (Steve Harris) hating football after missing a shot at nearly going pro. But now he owns a Bar-B-Q shop which Jess works at. She and Vince also have a history which is not discussed at all, but something bad must have happened because Daddy doesn't want Vince near his little girl. Jess dates Landry briefly but dumps him in the finale supposedly for Vince, though it's not yet official.
Then comes Luke Cafferty (Matt Lauria). Originally, he goes to West Dillion but is discovered to actually live on the East Dillon side of the dividing line. So, he is forced to switch schools. He and Vince don't get along at first, especially since Vince did really steal Luke's wallet. They get into a nasty fight and are hauled off to jail, while JD (Jeremy Sumpter) and others just abandon him. Eric forces Vince and Luke to walk home and Vince returns the wallet. They get along and the team improves because of it. Luke later is injured while doing chores on his parents' farm and needs tons of pills to deal with the pain. When Eric discovers his hidden injury, Eric is furious and benches him for almost the rest of the season. Luke is offered a scholarship to a Catholic school at the end of the season but it is unknown if he takes it or not.
Becky (Madison Burge) is the other new girl, who participates in beauty pagents. She is introduced after her mother (Alicia Witt) sleeps with Tim. She tries everything to get Tim to like her, though it doesn't work. After being blown off by Tim, she meets Luke and they have sex (though this is only mildly hinted at). Here comes my first major problem with the season: despite only having a one night stand, Becky gets pregnant. Rant #1: Seriously, you (the writers) decide to make another character pregnant from a one-night stand? You can't give a long-term couple like Lyla/Tim or Matt/Julie a pregnancy or at least a pregnancy scare? You guys disappoint me.
Okay, back to that plot. Becky, having been born to a teenage mother herself, immediately decides upon an abortion. Luke is somewhat okay with that. Tami (Connie Britton) is even sought out to give her advice. Tim brought Becky over and Tami assumed that Tim was the father when it was really Luke. Becky makes it pretty clear she wants the abortion. However, when she finally tells her mother, Cheryl, is even more determined and doesn't want to listen to what the doctor has to say by law.
Then Luke tells his deeply religious parents. In the end, Luke finally steps up to the plate and offers to help raise the baby, but by then it is too late. Becky has had the abortion. Rant #2: I knew the abortion needed to happen, after all, that was the fourth pregnancy the show had, but seriously, couldn't adoption have been considered a little more other than Tami just mentioning it in her speech? And Mrs. Cafferty's comment of Mary and Joseph also having problems was horribly insensitive and should not have been in the final script. What also bothered me was the fallout from the abortion.
Mrs. Cafferty (Kathleen Griffith) is furious that a school official would advise a child to have an abortion (she also went to talk to Becky behind her son's back). She goes after Tami. Tami was right when she told others that she followed protocol because she did. She discussed the options and in fact, tried to not mention abortion until Becky brought it up. Pro-Life people picket at Tami's school and soon her job is in danger. She also refuses to apologize and basically decides to quit her job and join her husband over at East Dillon where she can be a counselor again. Crisis averted. I just wish the whole thing would have calmed down after Becky went through with the abortion. Which leads to Rant #3: This is an issue rarely discussed though I have now seen two different TV shows where a girl becomes pregnant (Weeds is the other one) and the father doesn't really want her to have an abortion but it is had anyway. What kind of say should the father have in this decision? That is not an easy question to answer because just as children could be saved if the father had to sign off on the abortion probably just as many would be killed against the mother's wishes. I'll leave you guys to voice off in the comments.
Eric (Kyle Chandler) does manage to turn the team into something fairly respectable, though they only win two games (that the viewer sees). However, his job is stressful and he doesn't have enough players and the talent is a mixed-bag. His team is so battered by the end of the first half of the first game, he forfeits the rest of the game, leaving his team to feel devastated and cowardly. He almost loses his whole team because of that. The final game of the season is against the wealthier but crueler West Dillon Panthers. JD McCoy is still the quarterback but he is filled with anger as his parents are going through a divorce. He is no longer the decently nice person of season three. The East Dillon Lions manage to beat the Panthers in a real nail-biter of a game, winning by Landry finally pulling himself together and getting over the recent heartbreak he was just dealt, and kicks the winning field goal. (Luke is also allowed to play, though is pulled after irritating his injury some more.) This means that many people (Buddy [Brad Leland] already switched to being a Lion after calling the Panther boosters a cancer) will switch and become Lions supporters. Eric (despite his noticeable increase in drinking this season) has a great program and proved once again how valuable of a coach he truly is. I was grateful after everything that happened, this show proved that those with the better attitudes and a better, seasoned coach could beat a team with more resources and better talent. Not bad for a guy who was never even supposed to take the job in the first place.
Now, to Matt (Zach Gilford). I saved him for last. He is now delivering pizzas and taking classes at Dillon Tech and even gets an internship with a local artist who is odd to say the least. He and Julie are still together and mostly happy with that relationship. Then, his father dies. That is the most devastating episode of TV I have ever seen, I cried so much. That episode ("The Son") is clearly the best of the season with Gilford delivering a magnificent performance. He was beyond robbed of an Emmy nomination, as it was nothing short of brilliant. He hates his father and bottled up all his hate on that man. He doesn't want to deliver the eulogy because he doesn't want to be forced to say nice things about him, but he delivers a great one, saying that it is because of his father that they can all celebrate birthdays. He even insisted on seeing his father's maimed body. The man didn't even have a face.
However, in the next episode, he and Julie sneak off to see a concert and they have a fight because Julie feels somewhat guilty that he largely stayed in Dillon because of her. He just leaves, without saying good-bye to either her or Landry. Julie is beyond heart-broken. She tells him off in a phone call, saying that he was her other half.
Upon Matt's return for Thanksgiving, Landry doesn't even want to talk to him. Julie somewhat forgives him but Matt wants her to visit Chicago. While at the location where he deflowered (Julie's word, not mine), she tells him that she can't go; she can't give up on her own dreams. She needs to find her own Chicago. Instead, Landry goes. The season ends with Matt having a deep, sad pensive look on his face on the plane flying back to Chicago. I can only wonder what next season will bring.
This season was still good, though I do wonder where all the kids that now go to East Dillon were in the first three seasons. And why can Julie just switch schools? She was assigned (and zoned) to go to West Dillon but all of her friends (namely Landry) are going to East Dillon, which is supposed to be just as good, so she decides to switch. She has no regrets.
The acting is, once again, fabulous, though I didn't like several of the story lines, and several were just dropped such as Vince's mother in a fancy rehab without him having any money and Julie's interest in Habitat for Humanity. And once again, my new crush (Matt Lauria) is married in real life, just as Gilford is, but I'll get over that. The editing and music is great all as normal, but still, despite the most amazing episode, this season is not an A quality. Grade: B+
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