“We’re getting there.”
This is why I love this show so much. “Kingdom” is an episode ripe with entertainment, laughs, thrills, and small, beautiful moments, and it’s an example of Friday Night Lights‘s ability to not only portray the heartbreak and disappointment ever present in our lives, but also the pure joy that can result from connection and doing something we love.
The final two episodes of season 4 of Friday Night Lights work in tandem to tell the stories of people who fall, people who feel the walls closing in around them and the world out to get them, people who go through a hell of a lot, but are able to find something to hold onto at the end of it all.
Here lies Henry Saracen.
Here lies Matt Saracen’s father, the father he hated, the father who wasn’t there for him, the father who’s now in a coffin, buried under the dirt that leaves Matt’s shovel. He wasn’t a monster, but he wasn’t a good father, either. The responsibilities that should’ve been his were taken on by his son at an early age, and Matt’s had to deal with situations that many teenagers have never had to face because there’s always been that one constant in their lives: a supportive family.
Dear Coach Taylor,
I wish I could give you all the money you need for your team, you wonderful man. I don’t know why everyone isn’t already throwing him or herself at your feet, trying to kiss that amazing personality, whether or not they think of you as their dad or their boyfriend or both. Have you ever thought about a job at the Landing Strip? Wear just your cap and your jacket of fatherly goodness, emblazoned with the lives you’ve touched and a “Tami Taylor is always right” sticker that never comes off. She’s always got your back, and you’ve always got hers. Compromise. It’s a beautiful thing, even when you’re lying about that damn personal check.
EPISODE 1, “I Knew You When”
We’re back! It’s amusing–but also refreshing and understandable–how season 2 is pretty much swept under the rug here, fast-forwarding a bit as the show seems to wash its hands of whatever mess it got itself into. I appreciate the way this episode focuses on the natural conflicts and connections that arise between our central characters, some of which include the parallels between the Coach-Smash and Mrs. Coach-Tyra relationships; the Taylors are, as expected, being awesome people, and they seem to have taken it upon themselves to help foster a bright future for their respective “kids”. These are the struggles I want to see from people like Smash and Tyra (love her smackdown of the Asst. Principal), these real-life difficulties that interfere with their outlooks of the future.
Season 2 of Friday Night Lights begins with a fractured family, with Coach Taylor at TMU and with Mrs. Coach and Julie remaining in Dillon. In a way, this is reflective of the entire show this season: the pieces of the puzzle are present, but they never quite fit into place, never gelling in the way that the brilliant first season does. There’s a hell of a lot of potential, but much of it is squandered in favor of melodrama or storylines that have no place in this show.
“When Jason Street went down in the first game of the season, everybody wrote us off. Everybody. And here we are at the championship game. 40,000 people have also written us off. But there are some who do still believe in you, a few who’d never give up on you. When you go back out on that field, those are the people I want in your minds. Those are the people I want in your hearts. Every man at some point in his life is gonna lose a battle. He’s gonna fight and he’s gonna lose. But what makes him a man, is that in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself. This game is not over; this battle is not over. So let’s hear it one more time, together. Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN’T LOSE!”
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“It’s a football game. What you need for a football game is a football field, 22 kids, and a pigskin.”
Sometimes, simple is the way to go. Sometimes, all you need to do is go out and participate in something you love, a passion that’s part of who you are. This is exactly what Coach and his players do in “Mud Bowl”, a thrilling, intense, and pretty much perfect episode of television. |
EPISODE 18, “EXTENDED FAMILIES”
As mentioned in the title, this episode is about various family dynamics and how they play a role in shaping our characters’ decisions and attitudes. For example, we have Tim Riggins essentially integrating himself into a new family, which certainly makes sense due to the events that transpired with his dad; that sense of disappointment is manifesting itself in a desire to prove something to himself through Bo and her mother. Although as of right now, I have to say that these two new characters don’t do much to really peak my interest, I’m sure Kitsch will handle it well. I’m betting this will go down the “sleeping with Jackie” road.
“You and I have the exact same amount of experience being parents.”
-Tami Taylor, Piece of Wisdom #12,532
A nuanced and compelling take on sex isn’t something you see everyday on television, but FNL delivers just that with “I Think We Should Have Sex”. The great thing about this episode is that it not only explores the experiences of Matt and Julie, but also the relationship between Julie and her parents. It perfectly encapsulates the awkwardness, the hilarity, the fear…everything that leads up to and results from a first-time high school sexual experience.
Polar Bears Watch TV 