I hope she doesn't read that statement as written.

that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

But you bring up a good point about them having to be much more intentional about making things powerful, such as in "The Son" or even in "Stay".

I loved season 1. But I don't think that's a fair comparison because most first seasons are the ones that make you like or dislike the show. Now we're used to the "realism", the different camera work, and the characters. For every show I love, the first season always seems to be one of the best. You're still getting to know it so nothing feels played out.

But compare the fifteen episodes of season two(originally scheduled for 22 but shortened because of the writers strike) with the 13 episodes in season three. Three is vastly superior because they knew they had a much shorter story arc to construct. So there are things we don't see, but the finished product I think is much better.

Although obviously I would love to see more episodes, at times I think the story lines are tighter, dialogue is wittier, and pace is quicker because of the limited timeframe they have. The power from "The Son" is that they had to cram all the emotion from one actor into one episode. The entire story line might not be as powerful if it lasted over three weeks.

But most of all, I do agree that I am frustrated with the Becky/Luke's Mom/Tammy Taylor ordeal.

And I have not doubt that the writers will surprise us and put their own spin on the season finale.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by statedog: FINALLY…the 4×11 podcast w/ the Zach Gilford interview is now up http://bit.ly/cThqwi and in iTunes. Leave feedback!…

And you're right, that lady at the school board meeting made me want to see Tami slap her.

I'm most incensed right now with the Becky/Luke's mom/Tammy storyline right now. The fact that Tammy had to be dragged into it even further by the woman at the school board not taking in that "Becky's mom drove her to the abortion," or the fact that they didn't have Tammy repeat that over and over or something. Why can't they follow up with Becky's mom? I'm very frustrated.

Also, why is it that we have these scenes with Becky and Luke or Becky and a member of Luke's family that aren't seen, and then we don't know what happened, or have to try to guess what happened? Does this stuff end up on the editing floor, and then it leaves significant holes in the show plotline?

I really, really love the show but get frustrated when they're still trying to cram storylines for a 22-show season into 13 episodes. It's why I think Season 1 is still the best and most perfect season of this show ever; I'm left with characters and scenes strengthening the other 3 seasons without being able to complement those seasons as a whole. We as viewers get frustrated when we don't get enough of this character or that character and storylines go quicker than we think they should, because of this.

What if, because the Panthers are the town of Dillon's only hope for State, Coach clearly "let" the Panthers win … and his team was super angry with him.

Coach is really in a tight spot again. He's going to have half the town of Dillon mad at him if the Lions win (and maybe the town would take it out on him and Tami, again). Or what if he is fired if the Lions lose another game?

In other words, I don't see it as a feel good moment, at least not for long. Using the analogy one of you recently used, it will be Lucy stealing the football from Charley Brown all over again.

Or, here's another one … what if the Lions knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs, causing Joe McCoy and Wade Aikmen to fall out of favor … and Coach was offered his old job back at West Dillon? What would he do??? Which school would he choose? (Conflict … Season finale)

Then again, the Lions could lose again; Coach hits the bar … again … and they send him to rehab over the haitus.