3.12 Underdogs Recap

While the raucous Panther championship rally takes place in the gymnasium, Tami consults with Vice-Principal Trucks about how to handle the situation with J.D. McCoy and his dad. Trucks tells her that she has no choice but to make a call to social services. As hard as it is, she realizes he’s right. Coach joins her in her office and offers to make the call, but in the end Tami takes a deep breath and does it herself.

Billy convinces Lyla and Tim to skip school in order to show them his big plans for the future — an old aluminum-sided building that he’s planning on turning into an auto repair shop. Tim razzes Billy but it’s clear he can see this working out.

Coach Mack is back as the team gathers to watch game films of the Titans, their competition for the state championship, a team that everyone considers the best high school team Texas has seen in years. Coach admits it’s going to be a damn good fight, but he rallies the team, telling them the Titans have not had to face the Panthers this year.

Tami and Julie page through Matt’s art portfolio. Tami tells him how impressed she is, how between the portfolio and his grades he’s got a really good shot at his chosen school in Chicago. When Tami asks Julie what she thinks, Julie — depressed at the thought of Matt leaving for college — offers half-hearted encouragement.

At Tyra’s house, Landry can think of nothing good to say about the essay she’s written for her college applications, describing it as a “five page needlepoint.” He recommends that she bury it deep in the ground and start all over again. Tyra protests, saying it’s due that weekend. Landry tells her she has no choice.

Child Protective Services pays a visit to the McCoys. Joe insists on having his lawyer present during the questioning. In another room, an officer asks J.D. if he’d ever been struck by his dad before, or whether his dad had ever struck his mom. J.D. is vehement in his denials. Meanwhile, Joe — getting heated — starts loudly protesting their interference. When the officer tells him that if he doesn’t cooperate, they can take J.D. away from him, a terrified Katie tells Joe to please just shut up.

Matt and his mom, Shelby, are in Matt’s kitchen talking about the possibility of sending him to the Art Institute of Chicago. His grandmother walks in, overhearing their talk, and asks where Matt’s going. Matt tells her. She asks what she would do if Matt went all the way to Chicago. Shelby says she’ll stay with her, but Lorraine will have none of that, then tells Matt it’s foolish to talk about art school, that it’s just a waste of money.

After practice, the Coach gathers the team for a pep talk. As the team walks off, he looks at J.D. with concern. Back in the field house, J.D. interrupts the coaches discussing strategy and confronts Coach over whether he called Child Protective Services. The other coaches leave. Coach says, yes, he did, that he was required to by law. J.D. accuses Coach of doing it because he hates his dad. Coach responds that he’s sorry J.D. feels that way, but it’s not true. J.D., unappeased, walks out.

Buddy and Lyla have dinner at a diner and try to patch up their differences. Buddy apologizes, but tells her that he wants her back at the house. To his pleasant surprise, Lyla, sick of having to deal with the Riggins’ disgusting bachelor pad, readily agrees. Then she tells him that she’s made her peace with what happened, since she’s decided to go to San Antonio State with Tim. Buddy — hesitating — agrees to the plan.

Outside the bus headed for state, Coach sees Joe McCoy and tells him they need to get together and talk. Joe, bitter and dripping smug sarcasm, asks Coach if he’s worried about putting out the fire he started. When Coach responds that he’s not there to place blame, that he’s just worried about J.D., Joe, his voice dripping acid, tells him not to worry about J.D., that J.D. is just fine. Coach nods, unconvinced, and gets on the bus.

On the bus, Matt suddenly realizes that Landry’s missing. Frantic, he calls him on his cell. Landry is still sleeping on the floor from a party the night before, and wakes up to the sound of his phone with a massive hangover. Matt tells him the bus is leaving. Landry rushes to Tyra’s house and begs her for a ride to the state championship. She makes him promise to help her on her essay on the way to the game, and he agrees.

As the team is interviewed on the football field, Matt’s grandmother talks to Julie in the stands about his artistic aspirations. Julie tells her she thinks he’s really good. Lorraine says that she would never want to hold him back. On the field, Coach tries to talk to J.D. He acknowledges that the two of them are in a difficult situation, but reminds J.D. that the team is dependent on him, and asks him to leave the personal stuff off the field. J.D., still resentful, nevertheless agrees.

Tami runs into Katie and, after mentioning that she’s left several messages, asks her how she’s doing. Katie lays into her, telling her how Child Protective Services barged into their home and claimed the right to take J.D. if they ever see something they don’t like. Tami apologizes, telling Katie she had to do it, but that she would never want to hurt her. Katie freezes Tami out, telling her that she wants nothing to do with her, and walks off. Tami, stunned, puts on a pair of sunglasses and leaves with her stroller.

As they drive south, Landry tries to read Tyra’s new essay, but again rejects it as trite and dull. Tyra freaks out, asking Landry what she should write about: her drunken family, or her miserable life, or the suffocating hate that had consumed her until two years ago. Landry asks her what changed to make her let go of the hate. She explains that seeing Jason Street get paralyzed caused her to realize that everyone, even the most gifted, suffered in life. That had changed her. That, and meeting Landry.

Coach and Tami toss and turn in their hotel room, unable to sleep. They finally get out of bed and sneak up on the roof. Looking out at the state capitol building, Coach admits he has no idea what’s going to happen at the next day’s game. Tami tells him he’s going to win. Or, she adds, he’s going to lose. Either way, the sun’s going to come up the morning after. He puts his arm around her and pulls her close.

Inspired by her memories on their ride down, Tyra’s found her theme, and reads her essay to Landry as they sit in her hotel room. After an honest, emotional list of her desires and dreams, she finishes by saying that college represents not a guarantee, but just a possibility of change, and that’s all that matters to her. Landry tells her the essay is unbelievable, just great. She tells him she thinks it’s great too. Then they kiss.

The state championship — described as a David and Goliath fight, with the Panthers as David and their opponents, the Titans, as Goliath — begins. In the first half the Titans give the Panthers nothing but misery. J.D. gets more and more frustrated, until Coach finally takes him aside and tells him to pull it together. But the Titans continue to rout the Panthers, entering the half ahead 27 to nothing.

In the locker room, Coach tears into the team and replaces J.D. with Matt as quarterback. With a rallying cry, they go back into the game, transformed as an unstoppable force. With play after play they quickly close the gap, until finally gaining the lead with the score 28-27. But, with six seconds left, the Titans get the ball into field goal range. The Titans go for the field goal and make it, winning the game.

The team, plus all of their supporters, gather in the locker room. Everyone is stunned into silence. After a long pause, Coach tells everyone that he has never been as proud of a team, that they played great football that night, and that this is the game that people are going to talk about for years to come. He tells everyone to be proud, because they are champions. Everyone climbs on the bus, but no one can find Riggins. Coach says to wait, that he’ll be coming. Back in the stadium, Riggins, alone, takes in his last game as a high school player, then sets his cleats on the field and walks away.

Source: NBC

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.