In an interview with a local reporter, Tami defends her decision to reallocate the JumboTron money to academics. When the reporter asks if there’s any tension between Tami and Taylor on the issue, Tami assures her that at the end of the day, they’re both educators, and their relationship is founded upon respect.
Billy blows into Riggins bedroom waving a letter of intent from Oklahoma. Billy and Lyla are excited, but Riggins remains silent and doubtful. Grandma Saracen confesses that she hasn’t been taking her medication, despite the risk of stroke, because it dries out her skin. Dr. Campbell pulls Matt outside. Since Matt is only 17, he can’t take over Grandma’s prescription. For every patient with dementia, the day comes when they can no longer manage their own affairs.
Tami waits up for her interview to come online. When the headline suggests that she’s a revolutionary with a tense marriage, she slams her laptop closed, and takes Taylor up on his offer of more wine. Taylor tells Smash to keep working hard, and he’ll take care of the rest. After making several calls, Taylor can’t find anyone interested in giving Smash a tryout.
Tami arrives at work to find VP Trucks in a tizzy. Phones have been ringing off the hook about the JumboTron, and Buddy is waiting in Tami’s office with Mayor Rodell. The Mayor lays into Tami for making a big mistake. Tami claims that the allocation of funds is her prerogative per the bylaws. She’s surprised that everyone would react so negatively, when she firmly believes she’s done the right thing. Buddy remains silent, and the Mayor leaves, threatening that she hopes things don’t turn ugly.
Buddy splurges on expensive steaks for dinner with Lyla. He wants her to accompany him to dinner with the McCoys on Saturday, and isn’t happy with her choice of boyfriends. Lyla claims that Riggins is going to college; maybe all he needs is someone to believe in him. Buddy snorts — Riggins is white trash, and he’ll only bring Lyla down — it’s gravity. When he asks Lyla if she’s using protection, she leaves Buddy to eat dinner alone.
In bed, Tami marvels about the craziness with the mayor in her office. She asks Taylor to weigh in on the JumboTron, but the baby cries and he runs off. Tyra has a hard time in her campaign for Student Body President. When she discovers that her posters have been defaced, she takes the matter to Trucks. Refusing to do anything, Trucks points out that Tyra can’t expect to join the race late and half-assed and expect people to respect her.
Saracen visits a lawyer to figure out how to take over his grandma’s prescriptions, so he can sneak the pills into her food. The lawyer explains that Saracen must have a family member sign papers to become an emancipated minor, then assume legal guardianship for his grandmother and control of all her affairs. Saracen doesn’t want full control, but the only other option is to turn Grandma over to the state’s care.
Smash practices with Riggins and Taylor. After a light tackle, Smash flips out and stalks off the field. Saracen takes Grandma to lunch at Applebee’s, trying and failing to get her to take her pills. He excuses himself to take out his frustration in the alley, kicking boxes. New employee Julie opens the door to discover Saracen, who confesses his situation. With his father in Iraq, there’s no one to sign the papers. Julie makes a joke and manages to dispel the tension.
Having been invited to dinner with Buddy and the McCoys, Lyla takes Riggins to buy a jacket and tie. Riggins doesn’t want to go to dinner, but Lyla thinks it’s an opportunity for him to schmooze, since Joe McCoy has pull at Oklahoma, and might be able to help Riggins. She claims that she’s pushing it because she cares about Riggins, and he admits the only reason he’ll go is because he cares about her.
Tyra sits at home with mom Angela, sister Mindy and Landry, trying to figure out how she can win ther election. When Landry jokes that her campaign slogan should be “A vote for Tyra is a vote for hotness,” Tyra is disgusted, and demands that Landry get serious. Angela reminds Tyra that she’s gorgeous, and she might want to consider using her assets.
Wearing a very revealing outfit, Tyra presides over an impromptu rally featuring four dancers from the Landing Strip. Irate, Trucks breaks it up, calling Tyra stupid and threatening to suspend her. Tami sticks up for Tyra and prevents the suspension, which would effectively take Tyra out of the race, but she’s far from happy.
Taylor stops by the Alamo Freeze and demands to know what’s wrong with Smash. Smash is scared that he can’t be who he was. He thinks he was only great because the team needed him to be great. Now he has no team, and he knows that Taylor is having a hard time finding him a tryout. Taylor tells Smash to suck it up, because that’s what being a man is all about — and he better be on the field in full pads tomorrow.
Dressed in another hot outfit, Tyra sits with the other more experienced candidates in front of the student body in the gym. When someone asks how Tyra will turn her lack of experience into a positive, Tyra blows off the question, and promises to deliver on the one thing everyone cares about — a killer prom where everyone gets laid. Sitting in the audience, Tami doesn’t look happy.
After the Panthers slaughter Larrabee, everyone heads to Applebee’s for the victory party. Tami is outraged that everyone is ignoring her, and asks again for Taylor to weigh in on the JumboTron issue. Stepping carefully, Taylor allows that Tami’s first move as principal may be construed by some as questionable. Tami feels her actions have been courageous, and insists that this is the way change is made.
In a tender moment, Grandma tells Saracen that she doesn’t know what she’d do without him, and she loves him very much. A man with a plan, Saracen borrows Landry’s car in the middle of the night and drives to the home of his estranged mother, Shelby, to ask her to sign his emancipation papers. Shelby seems alarmed by her son’s situation, but signs the papers anyway.
Full of pride, Tyra visits Tami’s office to celebrate her win in the election. Tami responds coldly, accusing Tyra of sinking to the lowest common denominator to win. Tami stuck up for Tyra because she believed in her; now, Tyra needs to earn back her self respect and the faith Tami once had. Smash is amazed when the entire Panther team shows up to practice with him. After running several plays and surviving killer tackles, Smash is elated — he’s back!
Before dinner, Buddy pulls Riggins aside, threatening to hurt him if he screws up with Lyla or Joe McCoy. Riggins is wildly uncomfortable at the fancy restaurant. He stumbles when Joe asks him about football and college, and orders squab cooked rare, a.k.a. raw pigeon. Driving home, Lyla asks him what happened. Riggins insists that Lyla is trying to turn him into something that he’s not. Maybe they should go their separate ways. Disgusted, Lyla agrees and climbs out of the truck.
Buddy visits Tami at home with news that the superintendent has frozen the JumboTron funds, and scheduled a hearing in two weeks time to open the matter to the town. Tami is outraged that Buddy didn’t invite her to the meeting with the superintendent. When Taylor walks in at the end of the conversation, Tami is so mad that she walks off without telling him what happened. Taylor’s phone rings — Smash’s ship has come in.
Despite the late hour, Taylor drives to Smash’s house to deliver the good news: Smash has a tryout at Texas A&M in two weeks, so they have a lot of work to do. Riggins gets home to find Tyra waiting on Mindy to finish with Billy. He strips off his pants, grabs a beer and tells her about the dinner debacle. Feeling badly, Lyla knocks on the door with a cheeseburger, surprised to find Riggins with his pants off.
Saracen spies Julie while passing Applebee’s and offers her a ride home. He’s now an emancipated minor, which might sound hot, but it’s really just a license to take care of old people. They’re just talking about what it was like to see his mom after all these years, when Julie shouts at him to stop the car. Saracen pulls over so Julie can show him the beautiful used Celica she’s going to buy with her earnings from Applebee’s.
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on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Recaps.
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