always being the “good soldier” (man, does he remind me of Lee!) only to have everything come out in one spectacular meltdown later on Yess, so Lee-ish! He's all baby!Lee here, for sure.
so desperately wants to help Matt because she can see how much pain he’s in Yes, exactly! And like you say, she's maybe just a little too young to accept that she can't make it better. And that's hard for *any*one to accept when someone close to them is going through it. I agree about the graveside--I'm glad she was patient, though the look she gave him was confused.
as if Matt sees himself as nothing but a catalogue of failures and disappointments Oh, yes, that hitch in his voice was so gutting! And the reaction shot from Tim was great too. Matt almost never shows that he maybe feels he's a failure, but it really came out there.
it’s a very GUY kind of thing, you know, where they might not see each other for a long time, but Tim’s got Matt’s back anyway.Mmm, yes, the male friendships on this show actually seem like *real* male friendships. Not
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I was so moved by Coach just putting his hand on Matt’s shoulder and not saying ANYTHING, because there was nothing he could say I love that Coach knows when NOT to speak. That's such a mature skill and it was great contrast to the very well-meaning, loving, but making-too-much-noise Julie.
I do hope he’s not going to exit Dillon via the Army recruiter though! I was a bit scared that they panned to the guy’s face during Matt’s euology! OMG WHAT A TERRIBLE THOUGHT! EEP. I thought that was just closure for their tiff earlier... eeeep!
handle was red with Matt’s blood by the end? Yes, that was brilliant! I'm also extra glad that they didn't make a big violin-y song and dance about it either, we just saw it in passing in an action shot of him shovelling. I loved that. I really liked the violence of this episode, which is a terrible thing to say, but it really worked for reflecting the ugly reality of that relationship.
Great review of an exceptional episode. I'm a bit too broken to say more at the moment, but hopefully I will get a chance to post properly about it tomorrow.
This was probably the most honest any show has ever gotten regarding the myriad of feelings that a person can have regarding a parent, especially the loss of parent who was so far away for most of his life. Granted, I differ with you on the military, my father was in the Marines and I am so proud of him for that and it's such a big part of who he is, even now and he's been out of it for over forty years. So I appreciated that at least Matt could bring himself to honor his father's service, even if it was only to comfort his grandmother.
My father and grandfathers all served in the military too and I am very proud of them. That is distinct and separate from believing that in this current era the military are imperative in order to allow children to 'have their birthdays'. That was just a step too far for me. There's a difference between fighting WWII and fighting in Iraq, imo, though I'm sure that's an inflammatory view for some people. Matt's dad did an amazing job that few people would be willing to do, and I wholeheartedly support Matt honouring that. I just didn't like the political framing which bordered on propaganda, imo, but that's only because I'm sensitive to it. I actually think it was completely believable and contextually appropriate given the location, the family situation (of course Gran would view it that way!), Matt's age and political awareness, and so on. So yeah, I'll flinch, but I respect what the show demonstrated Matt doing, and I think highly of the character for doing so
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Yess, so Lee-ish! He's all baby!Lee here, for sure.
so desperately wants to help Matt because she can see how much pain he’s in
Yes, exactly! And like you say, she's maybe just a little too young to accept that she can't make it better. And that's hard for *any*one to accept when someone close to them is going through it. I agree about the graveside--I'm glad she was patient, though the look she gave him was confused.
as if Matt sees himself as nothing but a catalogue of failures and disappointments
Oh, yes, that hitch in his voice was so gutting! And the reaction shot from Tim was great too. Matt almost never shows that he maybe feels he's a failure, but it really came out there.
it’s a very GUY kind of thing, you know, where they might not see each other for a long time, but Tim’s got Matt’s back anyway.Mmm, yes, the male friendships on this show actually seem like *real* male friendships. Not ( ... )
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(The comment has been removed)
I love that Coach knows when NOT to speak. That's such a mature skill and it was great contrast to the very well-meaning, loving, but making-too-much-noise Julie.
I do hope he’s not going to exit Dillon via the Army recruiter though! I was a bit scared that they panned to the guy’s face during Matt’s euology!
OMG WHAT A TERRIBLE THOUGHT! EEP. I thought that was just closure for their tiff earlier... eeeep!
handle was red with Matt’s blood by the end?
Yes, that was brilliant! I'm also extra glad that they didn't make a big violin-y song and dance about it either, we just saw it in passing in an action shot of him shovelling. I loved that. I really liked the violence of this episode, which is a terrible thing to say, but it really worked for reflecting the ugly reality of that relationship.
Yup, totally a fave ep of all-time for me too!
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