Category: Friday Night Lights (Page 3 of 6)

The dualities of the show’s episode titles continue. This week, “May the Best Man Win” refers both to Eric’s pissing match with Tami’s ex-boyfriend, Mo McArnold, (which, by the way, is a great name for a character) and Riggins’ relentless pursuit of Miss Lyla Garrity.

Let’s start with the latter. Tim has decided to go to church every Sunday and even pitch his own show – “The Rig Show” – to Lyla’s boyfriend. The scene after the show where her new beau laid down the law was pretty funny, as was the show itself. Riggins had a great response when Lyla asked if he was going to come to church every Sunday: “Whatever it takes.”

One thing’s for sure, if Lyla’s boyfriend doesn’t put out, she’s probably going to run back into Tim’s arms. After all, a girl has needs, and that’s exactly what Tim is counting on.

I’ve always said that nothing good can come from spending time with your significant other’s exes, and this week’s episode would support that theory. After 15 years, Mo McArnold is still pissed off about losing Tami to Eric, but it sounds like he was getting some action on the side at the time, and thought that Eric was the one that told her about his indiscretions. It was a great way to show that Eric and Tami were, at one time, just as dramatic their daughter. The scene that took place the next morning where a hungover Eric had to deal with the girls as they went off to church was absolutely priceless. (And, as much as Tami would like to blame Eric for what happened at the restaurant, she precipitated the whole event by coercing Eric into spending time with Mo. It’s just a bad idea to hang out with your wife’s ex-boyfriends.)

Landry and Tyra showed up at school holding hands, which I think has Matt a little jealous. We were treated to a great conversation between the two friends as they discussed Tyra and Carlota. We need more of Matt and Landry’s debates about life.

I’m not sure how much I like this Jason/Erin storyline. He’s pumped about potentially being a father, but talking a girl into having your baby probably isn’t the greatest of ideas. It speaks volumes that she called it a one-night stand and didn’t call him back after he left 10 messages. If she doesn’t even like him enough to date him it’s going to be very difficult to raise a child together.

Lastly, it was good to see Smash’s scholarship storyline come to a conclusion. He was acting pretty desperate, but I didn’t think it was very realistic how no one was returning his calls. This is Texas, for Pete’s sake! Guys get into fistfights all the time! If you can run the ball like Smash can, someone is going to want to hear your side of the story. In this case, it was little Whitmore University, where the “family” aspect of the team appealed to Smash. He seemed genuinely grateful for the opportunity, but I wonder if the bigger schools might come calling again once he gets back on the field.

Sadly, we may never find out. There were 15 episodes in the can before the writers’ strike, and now that the work stoppage is over, there are no known plans to finish out the season. “Friday Night Lights” might come back in the fall, or it might not come back at all. Get your petitions ready.

The title for this week’s episode was apt. Under different contexts, “Leave No One Behind” could refer to Matt, to Smash, to Julie and to Tyra.

Let’s start with Matt, whose struggles with abandonment were the crux of the episode. The scene in the shower was very powerful and contained some great acting by Zach Gilford and Kyle Chandler. It was obvious that Matt was upset about Carlota leaving for Guatemala, but it was surprising that he took all those decisions – Eric’s decision to take a new job, Julie’s decision to chase the Swede and his dad’s decision to stay in Iraq – so personally.

His roller coaster ride of an episode wasn’t without some laughs, however. I knew we were in for some great lines as soon as Riggins pulled up to the motorcycle dealership. Just when you think “I always skip Wednesdays” is going to be the cream of the crop, Tim pulls out this line:

“I was thinking, y’know, hit the museum, yoga, library for a bit. Then again, I might just do the uj.”

Riggins.

For those that are counting, we’ve seen two volleyball games without a football game. While it’s great to see the Lady Panthers winning, I know there are viewers out there that want to see some football. We did get some stretching, a bit of filmwork and a rather cheesy scene at the end with Smash, but no real football action. Are we going to have a game next week or a quick recap at the beginning of the show? The odds are against the Panthers making the playoffs, and hopefully we’ll see it play out on the field, not on the radio or in the past tense in a conversation.

Speaking of Smash, isn’t he being a little dramatic about losing his scholarship to TMU? Sure, it sucks, but if he were to write a heartfelt letter to the school explaining what happened in the movie theater, wouldn’t the team give him another chance? If not, I’m sure there are several other top programs that would like to hear his side of the story. Given the kinds of incidents that are swept underneath the rug in college football these days, defending your sister from a racist asshole is just child’s play. Someone will give Smash a chance.

Julie’s angst seemed a little trite, but she’s a teenager and teenagers are (apparently) pretty dramatic. It wasn’t really clear why Tami had to be there for the DMV test, but she did a nice job of laying a guilt trip on the instructor to get Julie’s test in before the day was over.

Lastly, I must mention the culmination of the Tyra/Landry storyline. All it took for Tyra to realize how much she liked Landry was a little jealousy over his budding relationship, and I thought her speech outside the movie theater was heartfelt (if ill-timed and awkward). But that’s the cool thing about this show – speeches like that rarely come at the right time in real life, so why should they in the sleepy town of Dillon? I feel a little bad for Jean, who seemed like a really good match for Landry, but in the end she just didn’t stand a chance against the long legs of Tyra Collette.

But really, does anyone?

Critics of the sophomore season who are upset about its lack of football action have to be perturbed by the inordinate amount of screen time that Dillon’s girls’ volleyball team received this week. Even this writer, who likes the football action but doesn’t find it a weekly necessity, wondered why the show was devoting ten minutes or more to the wrong sport. However, there were two good things to come out of the storyline: 1) Tyra in bunhugger shorts, and 2) Riggins’ second best line of the episode: “Over the net.” What was Riggins doing there, anyway? Is he still on Coach Taylor’s probation?

Oh, and what was Riggins’ best line of the episode?

“Oh my God. You’re going to apply a grade nine education to the stock market?”

Speaking of #33, he had a pretty tough week. His old roommate showed up with a couple of buddies looking for his money and the trio worked Tim over pretty good. Then he tells Lyla that he loves her, only to be shot down once again by Dillon’s most beautiful Christian. She did show up with three grand to bail him out of trouble, so she does still care about him. I doubt that relationship is over for good. (And I think there’s something up with her new boyfriend.)

It was good to see Jason this week. I thought that his storyline dragged on the show a bit during the first season. After the initial shock of the injury, there wasn’t a whole lot for him to do other than get on with his life. It was cool to see him figure out how to sell Gerald a car – his speech was one of those “Yes!” moments that makes this show so great. Buddy had a great line when he was talking about how that saleswoman snowed Jason – “I can’t believe that little philly.”

I’m not sure what exactly is going on with Tyra and Landry. When last we left them, Tyra said that he made her “feel too much” and he told her to get a move on because he wasn’t going to wait around forever. Now he has a semi-cute little lab partner and Tyra is acting awfully jealous. What exactly does she want him to do? It’s not like he’s the problem. The girl is growing on Landry a little bit, so we’ll see how long Tyra waits before she makes her grand gesture.

Lastly, Smash got suspended for three games. He didn’t go about it in the right way, but that rich kid deserved what he got (and more). Hopefully his suspension will remind everyone that there’s a football season going on.

I don’t know how they do it, but the creators of this show found a way to make a mundane task like choosing the right daycare fairly interesting. Maybe it’s because I’m an expecting father, but I felt the Taylors’ pain when they had to leave Gracie at daycare for the first time.

Other than that storyline (and the awesome cameo by Glenn, “Um, I think she needs her diaper changed”), I wasn’t too crazy about this episode. The old, mistake-making Lyla was a lot more interesting than the new-and-improved, preachy Lyla. While Riggins’ call to the radio show was pretty funny (“Um, I think Jesus is kinda hot”), the rest of the storyline was pretty bland. However, it does appear that the Lyla/Riggins relationship will be moving forward next week.

Santiago’s brush with his past is kind of cliché, and the most compelling thing about that thread is the trust that’s developing between he and Buddy. Buddy’s growth is both funny and endearing. He’s like a little kid with a new toy, and the new toy is a 16 year-old ex-con. His spiel about “judging people by what’s on the inside” at the bar was hilarious, especially when he followed it up by asking one of his friends if he should hide his watch from “a bunch of thugs.” (On a side note, it was nice to see “Veronica Mars” alum Francis Capra again. He played Santiago’s friend.)

The last less-than-stellar storyline this week was the exploration of racism as a part of Smash’s relationship with Noel. I thought it was odd (and pretty unrealistic) that her parents would invite everyone over for dinner only to spring an ambush at dessert. To top things off, we have the stereotypical white racist bothering Smash’s sister at the movies. The incident will probably prompt Smash to break things off with Noel. Yawn.

For the sake of QB1, I was sad to see Carlota go, but there wasn’t really anything going on in that relationship. It felt a little abrupt, but the moment the two shared at the birthday party seemed genuine. Now that they’re both single, methinks this may eventually lead to a Matt/Julie reunion, but expect QB1 to go through some tough times first.

Lastly, for anyone that’s interested, the moody song playing over the final few scenes was Devendra Banhart’s “Now That I Know,” which is off his 2005 album, Cripple Crow. The show sure does a nice job with its music.