First things first, my DVR messed up and didn't group this episode in with my season pass, which seems to be a common complaint. So I hopped in on the credits, apparently missing Billy breaking up with his fiancée and Coach Eric being hard on Saracen. (Or at least that's what I pieced together.) I'm taping the rerun on Friday and will post an update to this entry at the end.
So, men, huh? What are they good for? This week we had three break-ups and three attempts at reconciliations. One, Cash, deservedly got left in the dust (literally). Another, Billy, got taken back, almost assuredly undeservedly. The third, Tim, screws up royally and then works his way back into Lyla's good graces by becoming the first Riggins to go to college.
Actually "work" might be too strong a word for it. With a less persistent recruiter he probably would have been perfectly happy to let any college plans drift and found another way to get Lyla to take him back. Or would he? My sense is that Tim knows Lyla's the best thing in his life right now but this episode found him acting as self-destructive as we've ever seen him. If he didn't have people pulling for him, where would he be? He'd probably turn into Billy, and not all that slowly, but does he know that? (On the other hand, it did occur to me that his gift for binge drinking will give him a leg up on other college freshmen next year.)
As for Billy and his on-again/off-again fiancée Mindy, while they largely seem to be there to provide a contrast for Tim and Lyla, as usual, the show gives both characters a little more depth. Lyla and Mindy get a memorable girls'-night-in to regroup after their break-ups and we get another peak at the whole break-up-to-make-up lifestyle that seems to be part of the Collette family women's genetic make-up. It even has a soundtrack all its own.