Friday Night Lights

Coach Taylor seems to have his hands full so much

Not just on the field but at home as well

You just have to feel for the man as his team Hangs in the balance on not just one but two Very tough teams. And on top of that, the Street

Family are suing to take him to court. Meanwhile, Matt's father tries to adjust to life in the real world.

Top notch drama that just keeps getting better!

Simply amazing! Just like the "Pilot" episode being very pivotal, this episode in the same right was the next step in character development for the following characters: The Whole Street Family, Tyra, Smash and Waverly, Coach and Mrs Taylor and Matt an Julie.



Perfect example of the good ole boy network, Matt going into see Buddy Garity to get his father a job. As much as I like Coach Taylor, I think he was wrong, but not really sure if QB's really have to go through tackling drills? I would think that the QB's have some sort of practice in this part of the game.



I really like Matt and Julie's relationship and how the directors are taking it slow with them. Julie was upset with Matt when he forgot about meeting her at the library, but I know she understands better than anyone what Matt is going through, in being the man of the house, taking care of his grandma, working, going to school and now being in a relationship.



Way to go Tyra, standing up for her mother! And then in the end the Mother, not to choose the man over her daughter!



Smash - in the 3rd person, not much else to say. Sorry Smash.



I use to dislike the Buddy Garity character, slowly I am starting to like him. I think it was what Tammy Taylor said to him to bring him around and be human and not just everything is Dillon Panthers...



Great Episode...

If there were one word to sum up the various character plotlines on this week’s episode, it’d be “stinkbug.”



If you saw the episode, you the context for this. If you missed it, it goes like this. After coming home from the Scarasen’s, Julie has a talk with her parents about the immense pressure Matt is under–school, football, job, talking care of his grandmother–and that she’s worried it’s going to crush him. At which point Eric points out that it won’t because he’s like a stinkbug, he can take a lot of pressure without breaking.





Certainly everyone involved in plotlines this week was under pressure.



Starting with Matt, which we’ve seen the past two weeks. All season Matt has had to juggle a ton of pressures, all of which he thought would be made better by his father coming home and being the man of the family again. Only when this dream does come true, we see that dad ain’t exactly wanting to be the man of the family again and maybe Matt doesn’t want to give that up. Last week and this week we saw Matt being the mature one–last week taking care of his grandmother when his father had no clue how and this week telling his dad to go back to the military and do what he does best and loves. And it was interesting to see how Matt was the one to pull strings to get his dad a job down at Buddy Garrity’s car lot. One thing that has been interesting this year is seeing how and when Matt uses his influence and status as the starting QB. Meanwhile, we’ve got Coach Taylor, who gets served papers by the Street family for the expenses related to Street’s injury. We see the pressure on both sides as Taylor wonders what will happen should the Street family win the case and the Street family faces the cold shoulder from the community for going up against the Panthers. The scenes of Eric going to the pharmacy to talk to Mr. Street and the crossing of paths of Street and Coach Taylor at the fairgrounds were superbly done. They could have easily been melodratmic or overplayed but instead they found the right balance–underplaying them and infusing them with the awkwardness the scenes needed. It’s the little moments like that Friday Night Lights gets so right and what makes it more than just a show about football.



In the heavily advertised plot of the week, we had Tyra taking on her mother’s abusive boyfriend with a fireplace poker. In the end, Tyra forces her mom to choose between her or the boyfriend and the thing is, for a long time, we’re not sure who Tyra’s mom will choose. That’s another thing this show does so well–even when it follows a cliched plotline (which this one does), it can still manage to inject it with some suspense and surprises. Like Tyra, I figured the mom would choose the boyfriend since we saw how the character had acted up to that point. Unlike other shows I’ve watched this week, it was nice to actually see some character development get introduced and then stick.



And you have to love how bad Regan’s timing is–trying to get back with Tyra during all of this. And her refusal and why she can’t. Again, it’s a cliche but the show sells it and makes it authentic in its own way. Could it be setting up a reunion down the road? Maybe. All of this is set against the backdrop of the town on edge about the playoffs. Should a team ahead of them lose, they can go. The team isn’t playing so all attention is focused on the game and endless speculation. I loved how this thread of tension ran through every plotline there, possibly heightening the tension in most situations. When the lower team pulls off a miracle upset and puts Dylon in a place to get to the playoffs, the sense of elation is palpatble. It also leads to one of the funniest moments in the show as we see Buddy Garrity on his knees at church thanking God for the win and praying for a state championship.



In the end, it’s one pressure gone but each character still facing his or her own personal pressure. Will any of them crack under it? And will it affect the playoffs and the end of the season? Were this just a standard, teen driven drama I’d say Dylon wins it all and we get the happy ending. But this is Friday Night Lights and so you never know where it’s going to take you. In my book, that’s a good thing.

Are Tim and Tyra really over or will they get back together after some time passes? It was still nice to see her learn from her mother's mistakes with guys and at least for now stop the cycle. They made the abusive boyfriend an issue but it didn't dominate the show. It wasn't an after school special so that was really cool. I thought there would be more drama with Jason Street and the Coach with the lawsuit but I'm glad they didn't make them hate each other, we'll see what happens when that issue progresses. I'm still interested in what happened to Waverly when she was supposed to be in Africa but it was nice to see Smash try so hard to impress her and have it not work. Smash can't help but to be himself and I can't wait to see what happens to him next week. Will he play in the next game? Will the church find out what he's done with the money? Wow.

I thought this episode was average. I mean I thought there would be more drama around the whole law suit issue with Coach and Street. I was definitely waiting for a confrontation between Street and Coach. I wasn't expecting Street to tell him he didn't make the decision. With the previews for this episode I was also expecting more focus on Tyra and the abuse. I don't know maybe I was expecting it to last longer at least making the mom's decision a cliff hanger for the next show. I was not however expecting Riggins to apologize to her and to try to get back together. Nor did I expect her to turn him down. I am excited to see next week, when Smash's mother finds his stash of performance enhancers. Is he going to be thrown off the team? Next show is a definite must see!