Friday Night Lights committed some minor sins last night, but I’m willing to forgive almost all of them just for the sight of Tim Riggins in a hunting cap he wore with intentional ironic goofiness while on a hunting trip with Matt Saracen. (Was “33,” the number Tim had written on his deerstalker cap, his football jersey number?)
The hour started out well. I like the way East Dillon Principal Burnwell (very nice, Dickensian name) isn’t cutting Coach Eric Taylor any slack. (His terse dismissal of a pep rally was, “Rah, rah, rah, sis boom bah” — and that last “bah” sounded like the start of “bah, humbug!”)
But I’m already a bit impatient with the Vince-Luke arguing and fighting. The racial tensions here aren’t being played out with nearly the degree of detail and subtlety that FNL used to deploy with brilliant regularity. I ascribe this to the difficulty the producers have set up for themselves in splitting our attention between two schools and two teams. There are simply too many new characters and so many subplots to juggle; it’s inevitable that some of them will be treated abruptly, as this rivalry between Vince and Luke was this week. It’s too bad, because I think both characters could yield nuanced stories, given their backgrounds.
Speaking of subplots, of all the ones to choose when FNL has been spending its initial weeks setting up Eric’s challenges with new players and Tami’s woes with the redistricting, this was the week the series had to pick for Devin to ask Julie to accompany her to a gay bar? Again, I like Devin as a character from last season, but her best-buds friendship with Julie seemed to come out of nowhere. And I get that to some extent, this was a plot device: to have Julie see coach Stan in the gay bar. I’m hoping that this guy, who so far as been depicted as a loud doofus, will now become more three-dimensional as we see how this aspect of his identity plays out. But again, is this a case of too many characters distracting us from our core favorites?
Which brings me to a few faves in particular:
• Tami: How much is it going to take for her to start unloading on Eric to pay as much attention to what she’s going through as she does for his troubles? This week, her car is vandalized, and she… what, cleans off the mess, drives home, and offers to cook dinner for the bunch of team boosters Eric needs to schmooze? This isn’t the emotionally open Tami we know and love. (But all respect, as always, to Connie Britton for making the absolute most of every second of screen time; her reactions do a lot of storytelling the scripts don’t have time for.)
• Riggins and Saracen go hunting: How funny was that? In the midst of Matt’s dolorous worries about his future with Julie, his apprenticeship with that nutty-but-brilliant artist, and his pizza delivery job, it was great to see ol’ Tim pull his pal out into the woods for a little hunting. And even better that Matt proved to be such a klutz at it.
Finally, what did you think of the night’s big emotional payoff, the news of the death of Matt’s father, deployed overseas? The show pulled Kim Dickens in as Matt’s mom for the first time this season just so she could be home when a military team appeared at the door to give her the bad news. Into what sort of emotional spin will this send poor Matt?
Friday Night Lights airs on DirecTV’s 101 network every Wednesday.
Did you watch? What sublot are you finding the most interesting? The most frustrating?
Comments (1-15) of 23 Add your comment
Yep, 33 was Tim’s jersey number! I loved him and Matt hunting!
Seriously- you are doing recaps on a show most people can’t even watch yet. There is no way to avoid spoilers. I guess I can’t log on to ew.com for a while.
With all respect, you can come to the website and not click on a story that’s billed as a “recap”–there are readers who are requesting that we cover the show now. Thanks very much, Ken
People just continue to astound me. If I come to this website and I have missed an episode of something like Survivor, I’m sure not going to click on the recap thinking I’m not going to be spoiled. It’s called common sense.
No respect here. It’s a recap of a show that many of us CAN watch and I want the recaps. If you can’t watch it then it’s simple – don’t click on a link titled RECAP Friday Night Lights. Makes me wonder how people get along day to day. I guess these type people are the reason they have to put warnings on hot coffee telling them it’s hot.
Preview for next week looks interesting with Lyla coming back. Doesn’t make sense that she would come back for the funeral though…she and Matt were never shown to be friends, but still looking forward to seeing her and Riggins! I loved when Buddy showed up to dinner…first Eric looked nervous that it wouldn’t go over well, then total relief!
I love this show and couldn’t find a recap last week, so THANK YOU KEN for posting this! Count me among the FNL faithful. I loved the pep rally and the “Pride” call. Go Lions.
Let me just say I love this show. I have really only one issue and that is how on earth Matt’s dad was gone so long. This show is in it’s 4th season. Why hasn’t his dad gotten time off or come home in the past 3 years? I could see if he was stationed somewhere else. But they said he is deployed. It’s my understanding that units are on rotation but I can’t see why his rotation is over 3 years long with out even the smallest break.
He did come home a couple of seasons ago. Then he volunteered to go back. But, yeah, even 2 years away is a bit long. Not sure if he was “stationed” there as opposed to a 1 year or 18 month deployment.
Just figure I should give my two cents here….just because he hasn’t been back during the show doesn’t mean that Matt’s dad hasn’t been back in the shows off season. Think about it….we only see 3-4 months of these characters lives at a time. It’s completely believable to think that he’s been back over the Holidays…Spring…or whenever and then gone back to the warfront.
Oh yeah and I almost forgot… the picture posted of Taylor is priceless.
I’m pretty sure he can make ANYTHING look good, even this ridiculous outfit he’d found himself in.
My favorite scene was when Eric and Tammy were entertaining the East Dillon alumni when Buddy Garrity knocked at the door. At first, Eric looked like he wished Buddy would fall in a hole and dissappear. But, when the East Lion guys happily started yelling “Buddy” and talking about old times, Eric perked up and was “welcoming” good old Buddy in his house. Kyle Chandler is so good at expressing emotion without saying a word.
I am loving this season so far. I was actually watching last night and wondered how many shows would fail at bringing in new people each season with some of our old favorites leaving? Most would fail and do.. except FNL’s. They bring in new characters and it just seems natural, same with the favorites leaving. Why I hate to see some of them go FNL just does it the right way.
I did find it weird that Tami said nothing about her car being spray painted. I didn’t think anything about Devin and Julie hanging out together. An entire summer has passed where things happen that we don’t see. To me it’s no different than no one mentioning Lyla until tonight.
Great review, as always Ken – missed you last week! Thank you SO much for covering this show, I know many people who don’t watch this show so I love coming here every week to see what other viewers have to say!
I loved this episode, but I agree they are pulling a few plot points out of thin air and not tying them into anything else. I was anxious to see how Coach would react to Tami’s car being vandalized and found it odd that she basically ignored it and went on to support his problems. Loved their sweet exchange on the couch though.
I am unbelievably excited for the next episode – not sure if I can wait 2 weeks though!!! It looks like an emotional rollercoaster, better arm myself with some kleenex.
Thanks Ken!! I was just lamenting about how there was nowhere to talk about it. And yeah, if you see recap, I think spoilers! Hello! Anyway, I did find the story a bit overwhelming until now. Its understandable with the graduating and all. I am so loving Connie Britton. She is amazing, even though, I agree, I wish she would tell him already! I am kind of scared of this Matt story, just crying wise. I hope this is kind of the end for a while of the race stuff, because I also agree, it was kind of shallow and underdeveloped. Anyway, thanks, and please keep doing it!
I’m liking Jess and Landry. I’m waiting to see how her dad will react to the whole thing, especially considering how he looked at Landry the first time she introduced them. Becky’s character is growing on me, too. She and Tim have similar problems. They both have parents that are absent.
Can’t wait to see what Matt decides to do. Seems like he wants much more out of his life. Also, the news about his dad was unexpected.
Great Stuff! I loved the part where Rigs yells no more gun for you! Brilliant as always, I played high school football in texas not to long ago and the race stuff is real. It’s not really like it’s always tense but I see it as more just the way alot of real people talk. It’s kind of the same as when in real life people curse alot more and say things they never would say in front of a camera. To me it really feels alot more like the clash of poor and rich and one side of the tracks vs the other. Even in the car with Mccoy and lukes so called friend they were treating him like crap and it didn’t seem like he fit with them either. I understand that the racial friction can be awkward at times but I think it feels thin and uncertain because neither kids are really rascist they simply sound like they are
I love how Buddy, who was Eric’s nemesis in the first season, has become his savior.
Savior? Really? You put wayyyy to much stock in Buddy Garrity. We’ve got like 1.8 more years of this thing. Trust me, he’s got lots of bad decisions left in him.
I also liked how Matt said “Texas forever, right?” to Riggins. The show somehow gave him a very Jason-centric line and got it to come off more “life goes on” than “replacing an old character”
it might be a small point but when landry drives jess and her friends to a party i assumed it was on a sat night-since friday nights is football night- i was surprised to see everybody at school the next day the party must of ended early?