Comeback Season 2006

During a family dinner, Walter Pearce’s daughter Chloe Pearce announces her engagement. The moment stings Walter as her fiancé, Paul, says he hopes to be half as good a man as Walter. Overwhelmed by guilt, Walter admits to everyone that he had an affair with his secretary, and the revelation triggers a cascade of consequences: his wife, Deborah Pearce kicks him out; his daughters distance themselves; HR fires him after discovering the affair; and his finances take a hit as most of his credit is denied. The family’s world rapidly changes, and Walter is left with nothing but the remnants of his previous life.

With nowhere to go, Walter moves in with his equally self-centered next-door neighbor, Skylar Eckerman. Skylar is the town’s egocentric high school football star who has just lost his college scholarship after injuring his knee. Before the injury, Skylar mistreated recruiters and his former flame Chloe. The two men—both in a slump—begin to recognize the value of what they had long neglected and slowly form a reluctant camaraderie built on shared need rather than pride.

Walt quickly realizes that the only thing that ever mattered was his family. For the remainder of the film, he tries to win back their trust through a series of difficult, sometimes awkward, efforts. When the family asks Walter to have an STI test, he understands that by not prioritizing his wife and children, he had risked her life. It dawns on him that his selfish actions had life-changing consequences for everyone around him. Chloe, disgusted by her father’s indiscretions, uninvites him to her wedding. On Chloe’s wedding day, the family finally forgives him after he sends them a video on the camcorder his wife had given him before their separation.

While sharing a home together, Walt encourages Skylar to keep training despite the knee injury, guiding him through at-home physical therapy like a weighted vest in a pool. After weeks of practice, Skylar heads to a University of Washington recruiter tryout and impresses the coaches by hitting his targets from sixty yards away. The strong showing leads to a mascot scholarship with the potential to play after surgery. Learning from Walter’s mistakes, Skylar also discovers his own feelings for Chloe and musters the courage to ask her to Prom. Coincidentally, Skylar and Christine discover they are headed to the same college in the Fall, setting the stage for a hopeful future. The final scene follows the pair driving toward the University of Washington, leaving open the possibility of something more between them, and hinting that life after this moment might hold unexpected romance.