Grid Effect

I can honestly say that last night’s Friday Night Lights was the best scripted episode of dramatic television I have ever seen from any of the four major networks. There wasn’t a single setback, and (with the content of this show, it’s hard to avoid) never teetered on turning into an after school special.

If you are wondering what/who the title is referring to, well it is none other than Matt Saracen, whose endless quest to spend some quality time with his much deserving girlfriend is constantly being interrupted by football players, his coach (her dad), radio personalities, and what one would assume to be the most detrimental to Julie: rally girls. After being kidnapped outside of an Applebee’s by his teammates, strong-armed by the local radio blowhards and his coach for a local television appearance, the rally girls “rally” all of the players together for a late night booze-fest and a calendar shoot for “charity”. Who is buying this calendar? Probably no one, other than wishful male high school classmates. Anyhow, it leads to Julie temporarily ending their relationship.

One interesting development from this is Julie and Tyra developing a budding friendship. Either Tyra will turn her into a boozing lesbian or Julie will convince Tyra to become a nun, either way it should be interesting. I mean, we are like, ten minutes into this development and we have already learned that Buddy Garrity is not only a strip club patron, but Tyra’s sister’s best customer.

In the football world, Coach Taylor is letting the situation with Smash effect everything around him. After an incredibly poignant talk with Tami, who always seems to know exactly what to say and when to say it, motivates Taylor to attempt looking at the situation from Smash’s perspective, and acknowledging how counter-productive this particular coaching tactic is. It leads to one of my favorite scenes in the series, eerily similar to that of Bodie and McNulty at the courtyard in the season four finale of The Wire. Smash tests clean in his first drug test (probably because he was consistently being worked like a mule this episode) and Taylor agrees to let him play.

On the new front deriving from last week, the marriage front, Lyla is understandably having her doubts about tying the knot before graduating from high school. Before (or perhaps because) such feelings are recvealed, however, Jason pre-emptively lauinches a nuclear bomb into the Garrity household, informing Buddy and his wife that the two are engaged after Buddy dismisses the notion of professional murderball as a career prospect. I beleive his exact words were, “And when I make the national team I can take your daughter with me, we just got engaged… that’s right, picked out a ring this morning”.

Tis’ not wise to draw the wrath of Buddy Garrity

Riggins, who was breeching supplemental character ground before this episode, needs a legal guardians signature for a speeding ticket, for which he seeks out his father, Frank. Who at first, comes off as a jovial, recovering alcoholic, seeming almost improbable that he is/was an absentee dad at some point. He ends up finding him, looking just for the signature, and ends up spending a two days at his house which included a round of golf under no uncertain terms: Riggins wins and his dad has to attend his playoff game. His father wins and Riggins won’t give his locale to the women looking for him. Well, his father is a stickler throughout the match and he ends up winning. Needless to say, it leads to what I imagine is yet another falling out between the two, until Frank makes an impromptu appearance just as Tim is running out of the tunnel for their playoff game.

We see Smash bust out the tunnel dancing and flayling around, similar to that of the little kid whom he likened himself to in the scene with Taylor. What’s my one complaint? The only significant character left out this episode was Landry, since he is in the show by association with Saracen, it is logical that we never saw him, as a result of football dominating the kids life. Never the less, I like the character.

Next week involves some sort of racial divide involving that bitter assistant coach.