After last week's stellar season premiere, Necessary Roughness came back with a new boss who played by his own set of rules.

"To Swerve and Protect" opened with a girl having a panic attack while playing roller derby. Now that's a disaster waiting to happen.

As much as I liked Grace and all of the cool derby nick names, I figured out the trigger for her attacks the moment she said her little sister was in a wheel chair. No, I hadn't guessed the magic marker connection, but the rest was fairly obvious. As a consequence, I found the storyline a tad boring even with the cool roller derby tie in.

Nico & Dani Evaluate T.K.

Back at the Hawks, Marshall Pitman took over as the new General Manager and showed up on Dani's doorstep with wine in hand. It looked like Pitman was hoping to play a different kind of game, but Dani was quick to put him in his place. As she told him in this Necessary Roughness quote…

I love my job and I care about the players, but I am not a game player so if you're going to fire me over this feel free to do it right now. | permalink

Thankfully, he didn't, especially since TK definitely needed her help. 

Should we have blamed the PTSD for that creepy looking beard that TK was sporting? I can't explain how relieved I was when he got rid of it. Despite the icky facial hair I always love TK and the scene where Nico removed half an arsenal from his robe was a definite favorite.

Nico: I guess you figured if the Glock doesn't stop them the nunchucks will. | permalink

I felt for TK. He feels alone and scared and is unwilling to ask for help. I loved that they didn't let him immediately bounce back from his bullet wounds and I'm looking forward to watching him and Dani work through his PTSD.

Of course Dani also had her hands full at home. I'll give Ray Jay credit for the Powerpoint project. It was certainly creative but on one hand he's saying he's old enough to have sex with his girlfriend while on the other he's telling his mom how uncool she is. That doesn't sound particularly mature.

And what was up with his girlfriend? Olivia was definitely playing the manipulative hot girl card. With every scene I like this girl a little less.

I couldn't believe that Dani was naive enough to believe that Ray Jay was staying over at a friends and I was proud of Matt for calling her out. Unfortunately it ruined their alone time which I'd like to see more of. 

In the end, I agreed with how Dani handled her son. She can't stop him from having sex but she can make rules about what happens in her home. And it was smart to give him the condoms. As his mom, she's trying to protect him, in more ways than one.

I did love how Dani sat on Ray Jay's bed looking at his toys. It showcased how he's still a boy but also a young man growing up. It's a strange time for both mother and son.

So what did you think of how Dani handled Ray Jay? Is TK recovering or spiraling out of control? And how will Pitman being in change the show?