Anyone still watching Friday Night Lights?

Taylor mentioned that TMU was Division I in his speech the night before the game.

 

Very true.

I will say, now, forcefully, that if Saracen gets a scholarship to TMU, I'll eat a bug. That's WAYYYYYYY too unrealistic.

 

Anyone wonder, when Coach Taylor was giving his speech at halftime, if he wasn't talking, on some level, about the show:

When Jason Street went down in the first game, everybody wrote us off. And yet here we are at the championship game. 40,000 people out there have also written us off. There a few out there who do still believe in you. A few who will never give up on you. You go back out on the 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 going to lose a battle. He's going to fight and he's going to lose. But what makes him a man is 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.

I couldn't help but wonder if, in some ways, that was the writers speaking to us. The fans who watched the show? They never gave up on it. And even though this might be it, even though the show has struggled all season and will probably be canceled, it never lost sight of what it was. It didn't change its format to gain viewers to pander to ratings. It stayed true to itself.

It was subtle, but cool, I think. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'll agree with those who said the finale was just ok. But what got us here was beautiful. If this is it, five scenes I'll always remember from the series:

1. The montage in episode 2 when Tony Lucca is singing Devil Town and we get camera cut after camera cut of the town of Dillon, the players, Coach Taylor, and the West Texas landscape (it was echoed in the finale). I think that, right then, was when I fell in love with the show. Just beautifully done.

2. The scene where Coach Taylor forgets to tell his wife about the fact that she has to host a BBQ for 100-plus people, and she's furious with him, and they're arguing underneath the table while the party goes on. Just a fabulous depiction of a marriage. I loved it when Connie Britton was like, "I'll come up in a few minutes and I'll give you a big smile, and I'll be that charming host for you, but right now, under this table, I get to be a little pissed off." The scene where they fight over the fact that Coach Taylor didn't take out the trash, and he comes home and tries to do it, and she says, "Oh, you think you can just drag it the last five feet and then take all the credit" reminded me so much of my own life and wife, I had to laugh out loud. Give those two Emmys. Please.

3. The scene where Saracen pretends to be his grandfather, Joel, and sings Mr. Sandman to calm her down with Julie and Landry in the other room, when he and Julie are supposed to be on their first date. Just a really tender, original moment that wasn't cheesy at all. Wonderful and heart rendering.

4. The scene(s) where Landry follows around Riggins for two days, reading Of Mice and Men to him, and we slowly see Riggins make the connections from the book to his own life (or not make the connections). To thank him, Riggins shows up to watch Landry's Christian speed metal band. Perfect.

5. The whole scene in, I think, the third episode from the end where Street, Riggins, Smash and Saracen all gather at the football field late at night to drink beer, and Street teaches Saracen how to throw a deep out. First off, you have Smash talking about Waverly's bipolar disease, and Saracen asks what that means. "It means she crazy," Smash says, which made me laugh out loud because it was such a high school thing to say. Then you have Street teaching Saracen how to play QB (goosebumps), Street and Riggins finally making up, and Riggins looking at Smash and Saracen passed out in the morning and saying, "That is so Brokeback."

There are so many other good scenes (please feel free to add your own), but off the top of my head, those few stand out. That and seeing Lyla Garrity in her underwear. Oh. My. God.

 

DD, the scene at the stadium sort of reminded me of the joint subcommittee meeting on the 50-yard line during Dazed and Confused, too.

 

No, Saracen getting a D-1 scholarship. The kid sucks. Great character, obviously not a D-1 QB.

 

He's the starting quarterback for the Texas Class (whatever) State Champions. I don't care how bad a quarterback the actor is, in the universe of the show, it absolutely makes sense for Saracen to get a bite somewhere, and DEFINITELY for him to get a hometown/former mentor discount at TMU.

 

I got the impression that TMU was, essentially, UT, but that it made more sense to make up a name for a college than to have to deal with paying the Longhorns any money to use their gear. If there really is going to be a second season with Taylor in Austin, he's going to have to wear college garb in every shot. I think Texas would want a pretty penny to have its likeness used like that, plus they'd probably want to make sure the university wasn't depicted doing anything shady in the plot. Are we supposed to believe there is another university in Austin that has a 80,000 seat stadium like the one Taylor walked through on the way to his follow-up interview? Even if it's really more like Texas A&M in Austin, it seems pretty clear they really mean UT.

And if I were the producers, I'd send Zach Gilford, the actor who plays Matt Saracen, to an intensive quarterbacking camp inbetween seasons to see if I couldn't make his throwing motion a bit more credible. It was interesting to rewatch the pilot last night, but it looked like Scott Porter, who plays Jason Street, really could throw the ball well in the limited time he had the chance.

 

That was my favorite episode. The other book discussed was the Scarlet Letter, and Lyla made her own connections with that one. Just brilliantly done.

 

FNL fun fact -- any time you see a shot of a ball spiraling through the air on the show, chances are it was thrown by real-life former Texas quarterback James Brown, who contributes a lot to the football scenes. I believe he also plays the guy in Voodoo's uniform during the overhead camera shots.

 

Yeah, Dedo, that pass on which Saracen found Smash sure as shit didn't look like Matty boy threw it.