The NFC & AFC East's Reaction to Week 17

"The NFC & AFC East's Reaction to Week 17" was the 22nd and final episode of The NFC/AFC East Saga. It first aired on January 9th, 2021.

Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvxzPW3Mx8Q

Story
We start with silence. We see Carl, barely breathing, trying to hold on. Wildflower is still being held at gunpoint by Gus. Danny is standing in the doorway, in shock and confused. Frederick is looking back and forth between the sword-wielding Washington fan and his dying brother, trying to make sense of everything.

His question, “What did you do?” directed at Wildflower never leaves his lips. Springsteen is staring at his brother, drowning in despair. Bruce is kneeling next to Carl, extremely worried. The seemingly invincible Patriots fan slowly turns to Bruce, desperately trying to suck in air. Bruce looks down on Carl’s wound, eyes widening, and he whips to face Frederick, who shares the same look of concern as the Giants fan.

Carl is barely breathing as Bruce begins to call for someone, but Carl tugs on him, shutting him up. Bruce looks back dow n on him as he snakingly grabs his glasses and takes them off, immediately humanizing him. A piece of soft music starts and everyone finally seems to understand what is happening. Carl is dying. He is almost gone.

Bruce leans back slightly, realizing there is nothing he can do. Springsteen begins sobbing uncontrollably (okay, I lost it here). Danny looks back on the crying Jets fan, and then back to Carl, trying to take it all in. Frederick shifts his gaze to his fearless brother and slowly starts walking towards him, grief taking over.

Carl looks back to Springsteen and nods, trying to tell his brother it’s okay, but to no avail. Springsteen has lost it, head in a hand, shaking from crying. Bruce, who was looking at Springsteen, turns back to Carl… but it’s too late. The once almighty Patriots fan, the one who almost killed him for stealing his motorcycle, the one who he defended against Rocky, the one who wanted nothing more than his family to be safe… is gone.

Frederick steps a little closer, not taking his eyes off his dead brother. Bruce whispers the first word of the episode, “Carl?” The sound of silence answers. He tries again, louder, “Carl?” but his voice cracks from the oncoming tears. Frederick, eyes still on Carl, slowly reaches up and takes off his crown, sadness defining his face. The music swells as Bruce tries to call out to the Patriots fan, but to no avail. He looks back at Frederick, who seems to be in shock, he still hasn’t moved. We see Carl one last time, and we fade to black.

We now begin to hear Carl monologuing, where he is talking to someone about stories. I know I am geeky about all of this, probably a lot more than I should be, but this monologue truly struck a chord. I oddly relate to it so, so much, and I think it’s beautiful… honestly! But to sum it up, Carl is talking to Joe about his old bedtime stories and how he loved them so. His final words, “Do you remember that?” are shown on-screen, and we see himself and Joe on the beach, the ‘purgatory’. Again, not much is known about this, but I’ll roll with it.

Joe confirms that he does remember everything. Carl hesitates, crying softly, as he begins to ask, “They’re gonna… are they going to be-”. Joe cuts him off when he says, “They’ll be alright.” Carl processes this and wipes away a tear as he says, “Good. That’s good.” Joe looks at his son and tells him that he is the reason that their family will be alright. Carl says that’s what family does and begins to compose himself. Joe smirks as he says that he’ll kick his spirit ass if he mentions any of the tears, to which Joe laughs and says, “Oh, this is gonna be fun.” Carl remains dead serious as he pops his collar for the first time in a long time, and the two begin to walk off. They mention Danny and how he is a douche before bidding each other good night and disappearing.

We now see Rocky, walking in the woods. Notice how he’s a lot more careful walking this time around, since last time he almost lost his ankle to a bear trap. Speaking of which, Rocky calls out, “It’s done!” He explains what happens in a quick fashion. Then, from behind a tree, a man in an orange shirt walks out as the music from Coach starts. Every Coach fan who has watched season 2 will recognize this character. We were theorizing it would be him for months, haven’t we?

The ‘orange shirt guy’ is Chomas, the Bears fan, the villain from season two of Coach. Rocky seems a bit taken aback as Chomas approaches him. The Bears fan calls Rocky a ‘thing’, saying a couple of things that go over his head. Chomas acknowledges that he doesn’t know these things because he is an “imbecile.” Rocky dares to talk back and says that he’s done all the work, and asks Chomas what he has done. We then see a quick montage of the memorable moments from Coach: Chomas crawling out from the crawlspace, him staring down Junior, the bedroom in the shadows, and him talking in the mirror to Tom. The villain stares down Rocky and says, “More than you could possibly comprehend.” (Hey, I think I can comprehend it, Chomas!) He says to Rocky that he needs them all dead and that his job is not finished quite yet, “You’re not done yet, are you?” Rocky tries to argue, but Chomas demands, “Are you!?” He composes himself and tells the Eagles fan to finish the job, and then they can talk. Rocky begins to walk away when Chomas calls back, “Oh, remember. All of them.” He nods and trods off.

We cut to Gus, gun in hand, pacing around the basement. Wildflower is sitting on the couch, being himself. He says that Gus looks stressed, but he points the gun at Wildflower, telling him to shut up because he’s trying to think. Wildflower absentmindedly says that thinking about grass helps him think better, and Gus misinterprets that, saying how he doesn’t want to hear about his brother getting high. The Cowboys fan starts rambling about how, “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I was supposed to get the crown.” Remember, the Cowboys lost to the Giants, which knocked them out of the divisional title race, and Washington won it, leading Wildflower to be the king of the East. The two start going back and forth about family planning, with Gus wanting his brother to just shut up. At the end of the talking, Gus says, “If they don’t kill you soon, I will,” and then he stormed out. Wildflower acts nonchalantly, saying, “Rough crowd,” to the door being slammed.

Gus makes his way up the stairs to see a group has gathered. Frederick, Bruce, Springsteen, and Danny were all sitting and waiting. The tension in the room skyrockets. Gus tries to make small talk as he reaches behind him, feeling for his gun. Bruce speaks up and says that they were discussing how to deal with Wildflower, and Gus seems to relax a bit. Frederick, showing no emotion, asks Gus to take a seat, and the Cowboys fan obliges. He begins by asking if they were alright, and Frederick responds that they want revenge on the person who is responsible for Carl’s death. Gus stumbles in his words as he says that Wildflower deserves to be punished. He looks at Bruce and Springsteen, who both stare back, unreadable. They try to bounce back ideas to Gus on what to do with Wildflower, but again, he fumbles for the right words as he tries to say, “I don’t want to overstep, he was your brother.” Springsteen interjects immediately, saying, “Is our brother.”

Gus finally acknowledges that he is nervous, and Bruce asks why because, “You caught Wildflower, didn’t you?” Gus stutters as he confirms the statement and then says that he should probably leave. Springsteen cuts in again, asking, “Do you know how long it takes for me to take a dump?” Gus is stumped by this statement, even when he repeats the question. The Jets fan says, “The longest it has ever taken me is twenty minutes.” Gus begins to say that’s not true since he was gone for ninety minutes when he interviewed him, but the realization begins to dawn on him.

We cut back to the events of last week, where Springsteen asks to use the bathroom. We see him closing the door, muttering the word, “bathroom,” over and over. He looks around to the bedroom and he sees Carl, sitting motionless in a chair, staring. Springsteen says his name, and Carl mutters a greeting, sounding down. Springsteen asks how he is doing and he responds, “Something’s just not sitting right with me…. It’s Rocky’s murder.” Springsteen then straight-up asks Carl if he killed Rocky, and Carl says, “Exactly.” The Patriots fan then says that he is going to go upstairs to check a few things out, and Springsteen says that he was just looking for a bathroom. Carl points to the bathroom a couple of feet behind him and then says he knows where Gus’s bedroom is. Springsteen’s face lights up at the idea.

We cut to Carl, asking how Springsteen is doing, and we see the Jets fan in Gus’s closet, going about his business. After a few comments about how messy everything was going to get, Carl gets serious. He begins by saying, “If something happens to me…” and starts saying how he pretended to be the AFC East family’s cousin so he could distance himself when Joe left. He says that Springsteen is his brother. Speaking of which, the Jets fan announces that he is done, and asks Carl what he was saying. Carl offhandedly says nothing, but then warns Springsteen, “Don’t trust those NFC brothers.” He asks about Bruce, but Carl says, “Bruce is family. You can trust family.”

We jump back to the present, and Gus is asking if Springsteen crapped in his closet. He confirms that he did, so Gus asks what the point of the story is. The Jets fan says, “The point is, is that Carl didn’t trust you. And after his death… I didn’t trust you.” He explains how he went back to the closet and found Gus’s diary, and he holds it up. (Does anyone remember the breaking into diary joke from the second installment of the summer episodes?) Gus whispers, “Uh oh,” as he opens it up and begins to read a couple of entries. “Dear Diary, I’m gonna kill Springsteen today.” He is barely holding in his anger as he continues. “Dear Diary, Carl kicked my ass today. I’m gonna kill that guy.” Gus is getting extremely uncomfortable now as Springsteen reads one last entry, “Dear Diary, Rocky has come up with a plan. Today is the day. I will get that crown, no matter what it takes.”

As he closes the diary, Danny leans closer, and Gus realizes that he may have fallen into a trap. He reaches behind him and whips out his gun, sweeping the room with it, pointing at his accusers. Springsteen doesn’t react to this. Gus levels the gun onto the Jets fan and says, “Well, I guess we’ll go down together.” (Tom cat cameo here) He pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. The trigger is pulled several more times. Nothing. Gus looks down at the gun and looks back to Springsteen, who taps his pocket and says that he found his bullets, too.

Gus drops the gun as the realization dawns on him- he’s stuck in a room with four people with nothing to lose. He eyes up his competition. His voice seems to drop an octave when he says, “What’re you gonna do to me?” Bruce says, “Well, you ain’t gonna get any stickas,” bringing back the iconic quote from the summer episodes. Gus is confused by this, and someone steps in to try to clear it up. Wildflower makes a grand entrance, sword and all, when he says, “I believe the gentleman said… that you won’t be the recipient of any stickers.” Gus is frozen in shock. Wildflower stares him down for another minute and then says, “Time to run, Footy.”

Gus books it out of the room, and Wildflower acknowledges that this is gonna be fun, and he slowly pursues his brother. We then see Gus, frantically running around the front yard, until he stumbles on a tree root and messes up his ankle. He is gasping in pain as Wildflower slowly approaches him, sword at the ready. But, Gus did not stumble on any tree root. That is Margaret, and Wildflower thanks her for the assist. Gus calls him an imbecile, and proclaims that he is 'America’s Team.’ He says that Wildflower doesn’t deserve a crown, and he mocks that his team doesn’t have a name. Wildflower says that he is wrong, because his name is Wildflower Turquoise, and he is the king of the East.

He raises his sword, and Gus hunches down in fear. When nothing happens, Gus slowly looks up to see that Wildflower has disappeared. He glances around to see the Washington fan pushing a lawnmower down the driveway and pointing it directly at him. Wildflower says he got it from the neighbor, (anyone remember that?) and he turns it on. With a smile on his face, he slowly walks towards Gus, who begins to panic and tries to crawl away. However, it is too late for the Cowboys fan. Wildflower runs over his own brother with the lawnmower, killing him. The snarky Gus, who was his parents’ favorite, got murdered by his own brother. Wildflower, who seems satisfied with his work, says, “I told you I was thinking about grass.” He then wheels the lawnmower away.

We now see Rocky, slowly walking towards the remnants of his brother. He whispers, “Gus.” His brother, one of the only family he had left, is now gone. Grief overtakes him for a second, but he hardens and says to no one that he’ll finish the job himself. He turns around to see Bruce standing there, unwavering. He takes a step back as Bruce looks over to see Wildflower walking up. Rocky looks at him and asks for help, but Wildflower declines. Rocky says that he owns the crown because of him. Wildflower says that he’s the reason he’ll never wear it again. He and Bruce then share a nod, and Wildflower walks off. Bruce cracks his knuckles as Rocky tries to reason with him, saying that all the important people in Bruce’s life have abandoned him, but he never did and that he is his brother. Bruce doesn’t take the bait and says that Rocky is not his brother. He walks up to him, hands in fists, and proceeds to beat the crap out of the former underground fighter. Rocky is now pulling himself along the ground as Bruce shakes off his hand. He looks down at him and says, “I thought you took online jiu-jitsu,” and Springsteen yells, “Oh burn!” from the window. Bruce begins to walk away as Rocky gets out, “Aren’t you gonna kill me?” The Giants fan looks over his shoulder and says, “I’m not,” and continues to trod off.

Rocky looks away, thinking, but then looks up again. Then, far off, we see Chomas materialize from behind a tree and stare at him for a second. The Coach music takes over as Rocky’s cry for help gets cut off from his pain, and Chomas disappears from behind that tree. (Such a cool shot!) Rocky lays there for another moment, and then Danny walks up to him. The two have a staredown for a second, and Rocky tries to get out, “Fly Eagles- '' as a gun goes off. We see Danny holding it. He finally was able to get his revenge for his father’s death. Danny immediately turns and walks away from the Eagles fan, the one who was so easily possessed by Chomas, the one who wanted nothing but to retake his crown and to get back at Joe for ripping his family apart. The irony of that though is that his anger was misdirected.

We move to one day later, and the AFC East family is packing up their things. Bruce and Wildflower are in the living room, and Bruce asks Wildflower if he’s gonna be okay. Wildflower responds with his plan to watch Roots, and the two have a quick talk about that movie. Bruce then bids the Washington fan goodbye, and Wildflower’s parting words are, “And remember, seasons don’t fear the reaper!” Frederick then comes down the stairs, and Wildflower acknowledges his fellow king. However, the Bills fan isn’t having any of it, saying that he chased him around the house with a sword, so they are not friends. Wildflower drops another one of his quotes, and Frederick just seems fed up with it, so he hurries through his goodbye and leaves.

Danny then walks full-speed out of the house, giving Wildflower the finger and an, “Eff you,” as he calls for his name. We then see everyone but Wildflower outside. Frederick is making sure that everyone has everything. Springsteen says that he was planning on being there for fifteen minutes, so he brought nothing. But, he gets distracted by the dent he made in the car when he got hit by it, so he and Bruce look over it. Frederick asks Danny if he needs a ride to the airport, but Danny declines the offer. But, he says that he wants Frederick to win the whole thing (meaning the Super Bowl) so that he can beat him next year so it feels even better. Danny is about to walk off before he hands something to Frederick, saying that, “He would’ve wanted you to have these.” Frederick takes it, emotions running high. Danny bids his goodbye, and he says goodbye to the “morons.” Bruce and Springsteen get confused over his name and talk about Adam Gase as Frederick inspects what the object is: Carl’s glasses. He puts them on, with Carl’s theme music playing in the background. He then says, “Let’s go home.”

We cut back to Wildflower, who paces around the living room for a minute. He then walks out to the back porch and begins to talk to Gus and Rocky, whom he buried in the backyard. He asks if they liked the spots he picked for them, and then says that their Mom and Dad are in the front, so they are all together. Wildflower then says, “It was a good season.” He looks to the camera with a slight smirk on his face, and we cut to black.

We have a POV view of someone getting up from the crawlspace in complete darkness. He looks around and makes his way up the stairs and to the back door. He looks outside and approaches the door. We then see Bruce and Springsteen on the porch, in the same exact places in which we first saw the two. They offhandedly mention how dark it is outside before discussing what they want for dinner (pizza bagels!). They both then look up to see someone and they introduce themselves with the classic, “Hello I am Bruce.” “And I am Springsteen.” We then see who was giving us the POV view, it is none other than the bearded bastard, Tohm, from Coach. He says hi, and asks if the two have seen someone named Tom walkthrough there, and we cut to black, ending the Saga.