Friday Night Lights

It Ain't Easy Being J.D. McCoy

Season 3, Episode 6, Aired 11/5/08

Episode Summary

Coach is furious with Tim and the team for a freshman hazing. J.D. wins the respect of the town and team. A late night swim at the lake turns into more for Julie and Matt. Tyra is shocked when a woman shows up claiming Cash owes her child support.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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Zach Gilford

Matt Saracen
Minka Kelly

Lyla Garrity
Aimee Teegarden

Julie Taylor

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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J.D McCoy's parents are terrible and Jason struggles to fix the house.

8.0

"Great"

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Nov 22, 2011 Report Abuse

Is it bad to not like a character because of something his parents are semi-forcing him into? There's nothing wrong with the character of J.D McCoy per se. He's a talented football player who has motivated parents who want him to be a star. He's seemingly humble and just likes playing football. He can't help it if he's amazing and gets Saracen benched in favor of himself. But boy, watching Saracen get the shaft while McCoy becomes the star is frustrating. But once again, the frustration is what makes this show so real. I'm sure the way I was feeling watching the show was the way Saracen himself feels.
But this episode shows us that Saracen has a distraction from his football woes: Julie Taylor. It's nice to see Matt and Julie finally getting back together. It's always been sort of clear that they were right for each other and Julie is acting as a means to escape from being benched. When he's with her, he doesn't have to think about football. We don't get anything new with Matt's mother, but we do get a hilarious scene where Matt's grandmother reams out Coach Taylor for benching Matt.
Landry's also getting some material that doesn't involve Tyra. He wants to get his band started again so him and his drummer try getting a new bassist. He ends up find a girl named Devon who knows a lot about music, plays good bass and sings well. I can sort of induce that they will end up seeing each other by the end of the season. Also, it's always nice to have some good Matt/Landry talking scenes. That's one thing that was completely missing from Season 2.
As for Jason Street, he's still not getting the material to work with that I think his character deserves. I thought it was incredibly touching to include the end scene where he sings to his baby in front of the Riggins' and Herc was great and any scene where him and Coach talk is good too. It just feels like a much lamer way to get him out of the show compared to Smash.
But I still feel the same way I did before: the McCoy arc is making for some great tension between all of the characters. And as annoyed as I am with McCoy sweeping in and taking Matt's spot, I feel like the writers are doing a great job of making his character sympathetic by showing how ridiculous his parents are.moreless

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This episode was great! I loved it!!!

10

"Perfect"

By Ofieliaz, Jul 30, 2010 Report Abuse

This episode was back to the basics for me. A lot of drama, and some serious story lines. There was some football, and even more about the relations in the team, Matt vs JD. Matt and Julie, do I have to say more?? I'm a big M/J fan, have always been. And Jason and Noah, the song, an most of all, the how the others reacted was just adorable!! It Ain't Easy Being JD McCoy was a great name for this episode. JD was the main character, or the main story line of the episode, and I can see how the writers have some plans for the future, and that's great news for a hard core fan like me!!!moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The song "Where I Stood" by Missy Higgins appears in the scene where Tyra puts on the radio at her house. Edit
- This episode airs on NBC on February 20, 2009. Edit
- Julie and Matt kiss and are back together for the first time since the beginning of season 2. Edit
Notes
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Quotes
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- Billy (Looking at the to-do list that Jason has just made them for the Garrity house): Why do we have to do all the stuff upstairs? Jason (sitting in his wheelchair next to Herc): I'm gonna pretend you didn't just ask that. Edit
- Jason: What are you doing out of school? (to Billy) What did you write him a note or something? Tim: I told them I was pregnant. Need a few days to relax. Edit
- (After a girl passing by says hello to Tim) JD: How many girlfriends do you have? Tim (looking at Lyla): Just the one, McCoy. JD (looking at Lyla, too): God, she is so pretty. Tim: Yeah, she is pretty special, man. Edit
Allusions
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