My apologizes to those readers expecting this post earlier, but I was out of town this weekend and was unable to watch FNL until last night.
Anyway, I thought this episode felt more like the ol’ “Friday Night Lights,” and a lot of that had to do with the return of Riggins. He made cameo appearances in the first two episodes, but this week the show focused more on Riggins and his personal struggles with alcohol. That sounds dark and all, but Riggins is funny as hell when he’s drinking.
I wondered in last week’s blog whether or not Riggins would pull Lyla to the dark side or if she’d bring him to the light, and I thought the writers did a nice job of handling the first battle fairly quickly. He has an apparent religious experience at her church and then, after being let in by “Little Garrity,” he tries to make a move on Lyla because he says that when he’s with her, he feels “closer to God.” By the end of the episode he’s sipping a roadie as he and Jason drive to Mexico for some experimental spine surgery. Awesome!
It looks like Coach Taylor is on the verge of returning to Dillon. The Panthers won their opener, but based on Matt’s outburst after the game, it’s clear the team is pretty fractured. I’m not sure how Buddy intends to expel the current coach, but after his “I don’t have time to take advice from the team mascot” comment he had for Jason, I’ll be glad to see him go. I thought it was really cool the way they shot the scene with Coach Taylor seeing the stadium’s lights and deciding to stop to watch the end of the game.
Anyway, it’s good to see Buddy get a purpose in his life again, and he had a great line when Riggins said that he passed out at practice because he was hungover:
“Son, don’t you ever say that again. I’ve seen you play many times hungover and you always played like a champ.”
That’s classic Buddy for ya.
Once Eric heard that Tami slapped Julie after pulling her out of a boy’s car, his decision to return to Dillon was pretty easy. He obviously isn’t very happy with his role at TMU and it’s clear that his family is falling apart without him around. I thought it was a smart (yet sly) move for Buddy to play the family card with Eric, but it definitely worked.
The Matt vs. Smash conflict feels a little forced to me. Smash’s problem is his big mouth. I don’t think Matt cares (that much) that the team is going to a more run-oriented attack, but Smash was able to paint Matt’s concerns as jealousy, diverting the conversation from the real problem: his ego. I think Matt’s outburst after the game has more to do with his anxiety over losing both his mentor and his girlfriend back-to-back and less to do with Smash’s increasing celebrity.
The Matt and Carlota romance is heating up a little bit, though I’m not sure that she knows it. The conversation about Matt’s laundry was hilarious.
Lastly, the show’s darkest storyline continues to move forward, albeit quite slowly. The episode began with Tyra and Landry waking up after their first night together and Landry’s dad (Old Yeller from our “24” blog) seemed to be pleased to see her exiting his bedroom window. I thought it was a really sweet moment in the restaurant when Tyra explained to Old Yeller why she liked Landry, and I think that by having to defend him, she realized why she likes him so much.
The missing watch is still an issue, but I have a tough time believing that it’s on the body. Landry would have had to put the watch in the body’s pants pocket and even then I don’t know that it would survive a trip down the river. If it does turn up on or near the body, it will be interesting to see if Old Yeller is the type to protect his son (by covering the killing up) or hang him out to dry.
In the end, I just don’t see Landry going down for this.
