Friday, May 14, 2010

"Friday Night Lights" recap: Mailboxes, white flags and boos


Recap of this week's "Friday Night Lights" below. Don't click through if you don't want to know.

This week on "Friday Night Lights," we managed to move forward from the dark place our characters were at last week, and give almost everyone a little hope. Not a lot of hope, mind you. This is "Friday Night Lights," after all. But just enough to keep us from spending the rest of the season curled up in a fetal position.
Despite the white flags on his lawn, and the fact that no one on his team will speak to him following the forfeit (not even Landry! And, as we know from season two, Landry is NOT a guy you want to piss off), Coach does gain a small victory. He manages to get the guys to come out for a Saturday night practice, and burn their tattered uniforms. This symbolizes their commitment to moving forward. Of course, one wonders where cash-strapped East Dillon will find the money to replace those uniforms.
Coach also gets a new player, thanks to a fed-up Buddy Garrity, who breaks the Panther line and tells Coach that one of Dillon's players -- hotshot running back Luke Cafferty -- actually lives in East Dillon.
Meanwhile, Tami, despite getting booed ("I mean 'BOOED'!") at the pep rally for moving Luke to East Dillon, has her own little victory. How great was it to see her call Joe McCoy's bluff about taking away Panther championships and rings during the boosters' meeting? And did you catch the little smile on Buddy Garrity's face as she left? He knows what it's like to face Tami's wrath, and he wants no part of it.
Elsewhere, Landry appears to be bouncing back from Tyra's departure, entering the early stages of a new friendship with the no-nonsense Jess Merriweather. Tim has also bounced back, finding a new home in the back yard trailer of last week's conquest. Drawback -- he's now neighbors with the sassy, lovestruck Becky who calls him "Tim Riggins who used to be a Panther."
And poor Matt still can't catch a break. He manages to land an internship with a prestigious artist and the guy (of course) is a total douche who just uses Matt for manual labor. Oof.
Anyway, here are some more thoughts on "After the Fall."
* I was wondering if NBC would cut the cameo by embattled former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, following his scandal last winter. But it appears to still be in the episode (I didn't see the final airing though -- someone let me know if he made the cut). Anyway, he's the guy who tells Coach to get in touch with his "inner pirate" at the gas station. Luckily, he refrains from attempting to lock Coach in a closet.
* What do we think of new Lion Luke? He seems like a nice, polite kid in the Saracen vein, and I kind of loved his devastated reaction when Tami tells him he has to go to East Dillon. He goes through a sort of truncated version of the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, including denial ("No! Really! I do live in that field with the mailbox attached!") to bargaining ("I'll do anything to stay here, Ms. Taylor!") to acceptance (I love his heart-broken apology to Tami for lying about his address).
* Man, Tami does really take a beating on this show, doesn't she? Who gets booed at a pep rally? So, it was nice to see her kick a little Joe McCoy butt this week. And to see her enjoy a glass of wine. Go ahead, honey -- you earned it!
* By the way, Buddy and Tami are probably the last two people I'd want to piss off. They seem vulnerable, but they aren't to be trifled with, Joe McCoy.

2 comments:

Blogger.jinbo said...
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Anonymous said...

They kept the Leach bit in there for the final cut--just watched it on nbc.com. The part where Tami told off McCoy in front of the boosters was incredible--I had to rewatch that one a few times. I think she's the best actress (out of many actors/actresses) on the show.