Better Buck Next Time

Buck Meltsner has just become a starter on his new school's football team in Baltimore, taking the spot that belonged to his friend Micah Fenton, a senior. Buck feels terrible about it, but his mom, Katrina, reminds him that he earned the position by playing well and encourages him to give Micah time. She also mentions she is looking forward to her first Booster Club meeting that afternoon.

At school, Buck is joking with his friends about hosting a cookout when their phones start buzzing. An article is spreading across social media listing Buck's criminal record: juvenile detention, embezzlement, identity theft, grand larceny, even kidnapping. Stunned, his friends demand answers, and Buck admits it is all true, though he insists he is a different person now. He explains that he did his time and is only on parole for a few more months, and he tries to lighten the mood by pointing out, "I only kidnapped my mom" - and she wasn't even his mom at the time. His friends are shaken, and Micah walks away muttering that you think you know someone.

The news reaches the adults too. At the Booster Club meeting, Micah's mother, Marla Fenton, pulls Katrina into the hallway and, while claiming she feels horrible about it, un-invites her from the club. The other ladies are concerned about Buck's influence, she says, since the school has never had a convicted felon before. Katrina leaves deeply hurt. At football practice, teammates mock Buck about police dogs and stolen cars until shoving breaks out, and Coach Griffin has to send the whole team on laps. Afterward Marla approaches the coach, sweetly praising his program while pointing out that his once-united team is now fighting - and wondering aloud what changed. Coach Griffin defends Buck, saying he wants to believe people can change, and points to the money Buck raised for foster kids and the way he mentors his young match, Chase.

At the batting cages, Buck and Chase compare bad days. Chase earned three days of detention for sassing his teacher over a quiz grade, and Buck admits he lost his temper at practice too. Buck opens up about his past - the man who raised him pushed him into cons and crimes - and tells Chase that it takes more strength to not punch someone than to punch someone. When Buck adds that a gentle answer turns away anger, Chase gleefully informs him that's a Bible verse he learned at Vacation Bible School, worth a hundred Bible bucks.

Marla isn't finished. She visits Chase's foster parents, the Zelenskys, and paints Buck as a charming con man, suggesting the whole town might be part of his next scam. When Chase arrives home praising Buck - and innocently mentions that Buck once hot-wired a car to get away from the police - the seed of doubt takes root. At home, Micah is uncomfortable with what his mother is doing, but Marla insists Buck doesn't deserve the starting spot and Micah does. She presses him hard: "I need you to be on my team."

On Friday night Buck has the game of his life, setting a school record with eight catches for 210 yards. But afterward Chase appears in the stands with sad news: his foster parents have forbidden him to see Buck anymore. Chase snuck out and biked to the game just to tell him, and he offers to keep meeting in secret, but Buck refuses to let him lie and promises to figure things out. At home, Buck and Katrina puzzle over how his sealed juvenile records became public gossip, and Buck wearily concludes he'll be paying for his mistakes forever. Then Coach Griffin calls, asking Buck and his mother to come to the school within the hour.

In the coach's office, with Micah and Marla present, Coach Griffin explains that Micah's locker was spray-painted overnight with cruel names. In the dumpster he found a spray can left over from Buck's fundraiser - with Buck's name on the label. Buck admits he had forgotten the leftover cans in his trunk. He insists he went straight to Pizza World after the game, but when he asks Micah to back him up, Micah quietly says Buck arrived later than the others. With Marla declaring that everything points to Buck, and the coach saying he doesn't know what else to think, Buck stuns everyone, including his mother, by saying, "I'll take the blame." Coach Griffin, deeply disappointed, orders him to repaint the lockers and suspends him from the team, leaving Buck's future - and the truth about the vandalism - hanging in the balance.