Friday Night Lights, Season 2

No, Dillon games may only end in 1 of 2 ways: a dramatic come from behind victory won in the final seconds, or game being forfeited because of a bizarre incident or fight. Of course, this one cleverly combined both with the bizarre incident occuring during the dramatic come-from-behind play.

And, btw, has anyone filed Jason Street's missing person's report yet?

 

Typical show for the season. About 40 minutes of good TV, and then 5 minutes of utter crap (the coach tackling Riggins, Riggins jacking the money).
Rest of the show as fantastic, though again they continue to have continuity problems when get get on the field, but at this point, I'm over that.

For those who have HD, Universal HD is re-running Season One. Second episode was last night (one I missed last year), when Saracen took over for Street. The end with Chandler and Saracen at the stadium with the crowd noise pumped in, coach telling matt to yell out the signals may have been the man love moment of the year.

 

love the show but after the silly turn with riggins stealing from his meth dealer ex-roommate i half expected a drive-by shooting while coach taylor was talking to riggins on riggins' front lawn.

for all the stupid twists and turns, the guy who plays taylor is such a good actor. i loved his reaction when julie told him about the drinking and riggins being innocent.

 

Three Stars:

1) "That's not our burden, that's our gift."

2) "Damn Julie. Damn."

3) I love this Riggins storyline. Because if this show says anything, it's that people are people are people. Circumstances change and life changes, but people are people. They've never had Saracen get too cocky. They've never had Street get too unconfident. They've never had Taylor get too overwhelmed.

Riggins is, deep down, a troubled soul. Yeah, he may do some good things every once in a while, and he's all charming and shit. But anyone who thought he wouldn't have taken the money is crazy. Taylor wouldn't have taken the money. Riggins, of course, did.

Reminds of Buddy from the last episode. He tries to get his wife back by "selling" her. That's who he is. That's what he is, a salesman. Other shows have characters evolve in one season. People DONT evolve in one season. It takes years to truly change who you are, and I love that FNL doesn't hide behind that.

Damn, what a show. Damn.

 

I told my wife Riggins would ge the dough by becoming Buddy's young lover. I guess I goofed on that one. And, hey, that new Latino kid is still nowhere to be seen.

 

Yeah the most frustrating thing of all about (1) the writers' strike and (2) the possibility of FNL ending altogether is that there are so many good storylines that go weeks without being updated (street moving out, the latino kid with buddy, lyla and whatever she's up to, tyra and landry, etc.) that they could keep going for a long while. Or it might just end. Tear.

 

Improbably, it seems that the Writer's Strike has actually helped FNL in its second season.

Variety, a pretty good source, says it now looks like the show will be back next year.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117977394.html?categoryid=2554&cs=1

It's actually No. 1 in its time slot. So, despite everything we believed, the move to Friday actually helped. And it's cheap to produce, thus making it more likely it will return.

Didn't see that coming.

It will never happen, but I'd actually love to see new characters. Younger players develop. Smash is great, but give me a new Smash if we come back for Season 3. Riggins too. I just don't see how they can continue to say these kids have more eligibility left.

Plus, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are the best characters anyway.

 

Agreed on all but one thing.

Riggins fails out of college and is back in Dillon by episode five.

You'd still have Julie and Saracen. And Coach and Guidance Counselor With Bombs.

It all works.

 

Definitely, I agree with that. Actually I'm fine with Riggins and Tyra hanging around Dillon, since the theme seems to be that no one ever truly escapes. Hell, I'd even buy into a storyline where Riggins is an assistant coach of some type. I just like the idea that the show could possibly position itself for a longer run by developing some other characters. As we saw with Taylor going to TMU, it doesn't work to split the narrative. I don't really want to see FNL: The College Years. Shame Smash doesn't have a little brother, just because I like Mamma Smash so much.

 

And, hey, Gracie will be in high school in 15 years.

My preference, and excuse me if I'm repeating something I've already proposed, would be a segue into a new city and new team. After all, it's the fact that Dillon is Anywhere, U.S.A. that makes it so realistic.

This could be done in a variety of ways. For example, Street could land a job as the coach in a neighboring city. Over a season or so, they could slowly introduce new characters and close the curtains on the old characters. A second option would be a coaching turnover at Dillon. But they just had Taylor leave and return. I can't see him leaving again.

A random thought just sprung into my head: As hooked as some of us are, can you imagine a seriously hard-hitting episode? Such as Taylor collapsing and dying from a heart attack or Riggins being killed in a car wreck? I'm talking death. It happens, so I hear.

 

Encouraging news. They'll need to bring in a couple of new high-schoolers (Landry, Matt and Julie will still be around), but I like the idea of following Riggins and Tyra and seeing how they handle the cold, hard truths of post-adolescence in Dillon.

Anyone who has read a few books, seen a few movies or watched a few TV shows is quite familiar with the 18-year-old who dreams of escaping the small town, as well as the 30-/40-/50-/60-somethings who have come to terms with being stuck there. But it seems to me we've never had a good exploration of exactly how the former turns into the latter (unless you know some of my old friends). And I think a character like Riggins would be a great guinea pig.

 

Finally just watched last weeks show.

Agreed on Coach Taylor's reaction to Julie telling the truth: "Damn, Julie. Damn." That was quality.

I'm also a fan of the "That's not our burden, that's our gift" line.

Riggs piss me off sometimes. I agree that it's what Riggs would do, but still ... son of a bitch. Don't take the damn money.

I don't think we've heard the last of the Smash-to-TMU story line. Feels like they handled that way too quick, especially after Taylor told him not to make an emotional decision and to look at the fine print.

Landry must be recovering from the fight in the lunch room, but I did notice Papa Landry was at the game. Street and Lyla ... maybe they went back to Mexico for a few weeks. Latino kid ... Maybe he had a few more hours of prison time to serve.