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Friday Night Lights is a genuinely family-friendly program, meaning that it can appeal to viewers of all ages, and is never particularly provocative or controversial, so you’ll excuse me when I say: FUCK YES! We’re back! And there’s a lot of catching up to do. Between the writers’ strike and the constant threat of cancellation, season 2 ended abruptly and unsatisfactorily, leaving all the loose ends dangling. So, the Panthers made it to the playoffs, but Smash hurt his knee. And then he graduated. Tim Riggins has taken his place as tailback, but his beery lack of focus (classic Riggins!) is causing some trouble between him and Matt Saracen. What’s not causing trouble, apparently, is the fact that Tim Riggins has to be 35 years old at this point. In any case, the team is falling apart. But there’s a hot new freshman quarterback in from Dallas named JD McCoy. I bet he will stir things up! Meanwhile, Riggins and Lyla are secretly dating. Tyra and Landry broke up. Mrs. Taylor is the Dillon High Principal. And Buddy Garrity wants a Jumbotron. LET’S GET READY TO FOOOOTBALLLLLLLL.
Because of his injury, Smash has given up his dreams of going to college and is working full time at the Alamo Freeze, but Coach won’t give up on him. They’re running drills out on the field before school, trying to get that speed back up. “Why are you spending all this time on me, Coach, I graduated. I’m not your problem anymore.” Um, he’s spending all his time on you because HE’S COACH TAYLOR. He says it’s because he wants to get him into college so that he doesn’t have to see his ugly face anymore, because that is how you SHAPE MEN. Then he tells him not to forget to pick up those cones. Classic CT.
Tammy is finding out that it’s a lot harder to be Principal than she thought! The air conditioning is broken, and the school buses are over-crowded. Everyone needs something, and there simply isn’t the time or the money to get it all taken care of. The teachers or so fed up! And now here comes Buddy Garrity, talking about a Jumbotron from the boosters, when a Jumbotron is the last thing the school needs. They need books and pencils, Buddy Garrity! So Tammy re-allocates the money, because she is a strong-headed woman who knows what is the fair thing to do. She’s picking a fight with one of the most powerful men in Dillon. Tammy is really being put to the test, but I feel confident that she will rise above this. She is COACH TAYOR’S WIFE!
JD McCoy’s dad is pushing Coach Taylor hard to put his son in Friday night’s game (which will undoubtedly feature many lights). He tries to bribe him with fine whiskey and illegal Cuban cigars. Um, looks like someone doesn’t know Coach Taylor. What a joke! You can’t bribe him! He SHAPES BOYS INTO MEN. You think someone who does that can be bought like something in a Sharper Image catalog? THINK AGAIN, MR. MCCOY. He even tries to go after the players with the promise of delicious smoothies!
This Mr. McCoy is a real piece of work! But then, on Friday night, at the big game, when the Panthers are crushing it, 38-13, Coach decides in the final minutes to put JD McCoy in the game because there’s nothing to lose. McCoy makes a monster pass for a final-minutes touchdown. A radio announcer calls him “Jason Street reincarnate,” because of how Jason Street died (?). But despite the victory, you can just see the anguish on Matt Saracen’s face. 
. I trust Coach Taylor, and I know that he shapes all his boys into men, even the boys whose dads are acting like creeps, and I know that sometimes boys get shaped into men by being benched at the end of a game in which they performed tremendously, but even I’m having a tough time with this one.
After the victory party at Buddy Garrity’s Chevy dealership, something seems to be bothering Coach Taylor. Even the Dillon Panther highlight reel doesn’t seem to bring him any joy. He goes to Alamo Freeze and picks Smash up for a late night game of…racquetball? Where are they playing racquetball? At the high school? What high school as racquetball courts? DILLON HIGH, THAT’S WHICH HIGH SCHOOL. Coach gives one of his classic pep talks, telling Smash that if he wants to get into college and play football again, he, meaning Coach Taylor, won’t stop until they get him there. “Can I ask why this means so much to you?” Smash asks. “Because I need something good to happen.” It’s kind of a weird sentiment coming from a man with a newborn daughter who just won a football game. Kind of seems like a bunch of somethings good have happened. But don’t question it. He’s fucking Coach fucking Taylor!
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so apparently the directv episodes are a few minutes longer than the nbc ones. pretty sure everyone and their mom would love it if you managed to figure out what scene got cut and post it here!
also, long, but interesting interview with fnl exec producer peter berg here (it’s an mp3):
http://podloc.andomedia.com/dloadTrack.mp3?prm=2864xhttp://query-origin.andohs.net/8000A6/content-root3.andomedia.com/origin/mp3/espnradio/sportsguy/simmons090114.mp3
I thought Coach Taylor’s sudden surliness and need for racquetball came out of left field, but I’m probably just not smart enough to understand the all-knowing Coach’s football-related master plan. (Maybe he’s trying to confuse Smash into playing again?)
Um, obviously he took Smash to play racquetball so he could see how his knee was doing. GET IT????
number one coach taylor is still feelin all bad about mac being racist so of course he’s gotta get smash out of dillon and on and into college ball because if he stays at the alamo freeze that shit ain’t cool, it’s COLD. so yeah, CT’s got his wife, TAMI THE SWEET GODDESS SAINT and his little GRACIE BELL, the gift-not-burden, but i think it’s a totally proper sentiment for him to feel and say that he needs something good to happen because he keeps his home shit separate, WE KNOW THIS GABE, we keep it off the field! so yeah, when it comes to his work, he DOES need something good to happen, and he needs that to happen to smash because he has invested so much into that kid and just remember how far he stuck his neck out for him (DRUGS Y NEEDLES!) and how much it would suck for CT to see this kid he loves, and you know he looooves him because THE HEART OF THAT MAN COULD FILL AN OCEAN AND THE TEARS I CRY FOR HIM COULD FILL AN OCEAN AND PLEASE ANYONE WHO HAS NOT INVESTED YOURSELF INTO THIS SHOW YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, tangent, okay, CT LOVES smash and i just figured when they were playing racquet ball late it was at a 24 hour YMCA, but i guess dillon wouldn’t have that, and also ANYTIME YOU HAVE A DOUBT OF THIS SHOW, JUST REMEMBER ONE THING: THIS SHOW IS PERFECT.
oh also i don’t think i meant my number one racist allusion.
It wouldn’t do you justice to not say that I watched Seasons 1 & 2 on nbc.com over my Christmas break simply because of your fervor for this show, Gabe. So, I am very excited for this new contribution to the site.
Thanks for being funny but at the same time respectful. It’s pretty difficult but, much like how Coach Taylor must balance being a Coach and Father figure to his players, you nailed it. Also, beautiful speech up there fannypacked, Texas forever.
SO SO SO happy to have FNL back. best thing on tv.
dang i just remembered something else, FUCK JOE MCCOY
McCoy’s dad brought CT scotch, not whiskey.
CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN’T LOSE!
scotch is whisk(e)y.
PUT. THAT SMOOTHIE. DOWN.
Smoothies are for closers.
And old people. And fat people. And… dang, pretty much everyone loves a smoothie… BUT YOU CAN’T HAVE ONE!
That smoothie scene was funnier than SNL.
You know what sucks about living in a third world country like Argentina? We don’t get to watch FNL. They aired half of season 2, and that was it. And I mean they didn’t even aired the season finale. I guess I should just give up and download it, but it makes me so sad that we get two consecutive episodes of Two and a Half Man, and cero FNL: what’s wrong with you, Argentina!?
I think CT said he wanted something good to happen because he can totally foresee what a piece of shit Joe McCoy is prolly gonna be. BEST SHOW EVA. Also, this show makes me laugh way more than most 1 hour “dramas” ever do. BESTSHOW4REAL.
I have to say that I started reading this website a few weeks ago, and have not been disappointed at all. I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED that you’re going to be writing about FLN. SO FUCKING EXCITED.
That having been said, wasn’t Lyla dating some christian kid who was being played by the guy who was Logan on Gilmore Girls at the end of last season? And now Riggs? Wha?
Maybe my favorite moment in the episode was this:
Julie: “Dad, I only eat free-range eggs.”
Coach: “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
which reminds me of this, from season 1:
Coach: “Contrary to popular belief I’m quite good at communicating with the womenfolk.”
Tami: “Honey, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Either that or Mindy and Billy’s declaration of love in the Landing Strip. Billy Riggins = A+ laugh-a-minute goldmine.