"The Son" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the television drama series Friday Night Lights.
At the start of the episode, Matt replays a video message on his computer of his father wishing him a Merry Christmas and apologizing for not being able to make it home.
Landry and Julie force him to stop playing the video and watch a movie with them to get his mind off things.
Tami realizes that the closed casket makes many of the proposed details unnecessary, and sees that Matt is too emotionally distraught to handle the situation.
That night, Matt, Landry, and the Riggins brothers go to the Panther football field to drink.
The funeral director opens the casket, the camera only showing Matt's stunned face as he begins to cry.
Later, a drunk Matt shows up at the Taylor house, late for the dinner that was planned for earlier that night.
At the funeral, Matt gives a speech about a time when his whole family was together shopping at the supermarket and how angry his dad got over the choice of toilet paper that he decided to grab every brand he could find, calling it one of the funniest moments of his childhood.
"[1] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix.com stated the episode "was probably the season's best balance between moving lots of stories forward while still providing the show's trademark emotional wallop.
"[3] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said the episode "had moments of the usual terrific FNL boisterousness, but for the most part was a solemn affair with beautifully crafted details.