NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Time to spread your wings and fly, Dillon! Jason to the big apple with wingman Riggs, Tyra on the rodeo circuit, the Taylors to a new house?, and Matt to a new position…

The house flippers did it – sold it and reaped a $14K profit each! Billy’s gonna rescue Mindy from “shakin’ her ass” at the Landing Strip, Herc’s gonna buy margaritas which Tim seconds, and Jason drops it casually that he’s moving to New York to become a sports agent and be near Erin and Noah. To which Tim says, after a double take, “When are we leaving?”

We get a fantastic, elaborate segment of Tim & Jason roaming the streets of NYC – near Central Park, Times Square (yesss!, although there’s no shot of them with the Naked Cowboy, opportunity wasted folks), the subway and its fun wheelchair ramps, and Grand Central Station. Tim stops some random guy to ask him where he bought his suit, and they go seeking Paul Stuart. Or Stuart’s, as Timmy says to a cab driver. As Tim leans on the cab door, the driver tells him to get his hands off. It’s pretty hysterical how New Yorkers look at the Dillon boys like aliens. Which, if you’re from NY, is exactly what they are. At least for the first week. They wind up going to a discount store on 42nd Street or something.

Jay’s sports agent connection flops as his old player friend Wendell signed with some other big agency. We’ve always known that Tim is wiser than he lets on, but in this ep he’s virtually Yoda to Jason’s Luke Skywalker: giving him sartorial advice, deciding they should see Gypsy (it’s about strippers baring their souls, or something hilarious), and giving Jay sound advice on what to do next, which is to go find Wendell and get him back with the small agency, thereby snagging Jay props and a job, and presumably his young family’s love.

Matt’s still slogging away on the bench, and what’s worse, even though he’s proven he’d be a good wide receiver, Coach won’t let him as he needs a backup for JD. Julie presses the move on Eric at the dinner table (a first – Matt eats with the Taylors, who still apparently don’t know he punched her V card or he’d probly be on the menu) and Coach says he’ll consider it if Matt completes 10 routes successfully. They race outside mid-dinner; Matt makes all but one, which Coach confesses was a piss-poor pass, and says he’ll think about it. Potential face saving for all.

Coach Mac has a heart attack on the field! Ack. Great camera work here, the handheld is basically next to Eric as he runs over to Mac muttering under his breath, capturing the panic. Looks like Mac’ll recover (Buddy tells him to drink water with the bendy straw, heh), but in the meantime, at Joey McCoy’s suggestion, Eric hires JD’s private coach to fill in. Even this guy (Wade Aikmen, nice subtle Texas football name there) is pushing for Matt to go receiver. Which it looks like he might as coach puts him in to run a route. Go Matty! Lookin’ good.

Tyra is interviewing for college, but right beforehand, takes a cellphone call from Cash, asking whether he’ll remain faithful while on the rodeo circuit. Gotta hand it to him, he was straight up – he said he’d try, but there’ll be lots of long, cold nights…. uh, that’d be NO. Apparently La Collette flubs her interview enough (taking that cellphone call could not have helped) that Tami tells her to keep going with the process of applying to other schools. This, coupled with the thought of Cash being warmed by other ladies, is enough to send Tyra packing to join Cash on the road. Sigh. What about the class, president?

Tami sees a glitzy house on the market by foreclosure, on a tip from Katie McCoy. Tami’s only gotten pretty dull story lines this season, and this is no different. It costs too much, as Eric tells her for what must be the dozenth time. Although it does give them some QT onscreen, first yelling about it, then whisper-fighting about it. BTW, the house was completely inappropriate for them. And all these real estate story lines… not so much.

Street and Riggs go by yellow cab (huh?) to find Wendell in his dorm room. A $1900 suit is too much, but a $200 cab ride is okay? But Timmy wuz right! They all go to the agent’s office; Jason gets invited into the meeting, and all goes well. Wendell signs, Jay gets an entry-level job. But poor Tim, sitting alone in the reception area, looks so sad and you already feel the absence of Six in his life.

Tim’s even sadder when he and Jay drive to Erin’s parents’ house in a swanky NJ suburb, and first thing Jay asks is if he can hold Noah. (What was she doing waitressing in Dillon, anyway? Getting “lost” on purpose? Hmm.) Looks like Erin and Noah will be living with Jason nearby. Tim and Jason have a lovely, emotional goodbye. Jay tosses in a “Texas forever,” Tim says no matter what, Jay will always be his best friend (sob), no regrets, and all that. All the times Tim has cried on FNL have involved Jay, so the roots go deep. And after the big tragedy of Street in the first season, some redemption for him does feel good.

So what is Tim going to do with his money, besides pay the cab driver half of it? Who will back up JD when Matt moves to receiver? How long will Tyra be riding the cowboy? Teasers show Lyla ordering Tim out of her car, so curves ahead… stay tuned.