I think a little of The Wire spilled into Friday Night Lights, and I don't know how to feel about that. In some ways, I'm glad they brought Karnell back, because that loose end seemed a little too frayed for it to just be forgotten. And Karnell himself was legitimately scary, both in how he threatened Vince when he was trying to go for a run, and especially when he was accosting Jess. I also liked how Vince was this close to going to Coach and then chose not to because it'd be too much to explain. So he goes to his dad. And Ornette has a moment of brutal triumph, where he seems to make things "straight" with Karnell without his son having to bloody his hands. But it seems like a sacrifice, like Ornette putting himself at risk to keep his son out of it, with the tragic element that there's a good chance helping his son to "get out" will send him back to jail, something that would hurt Vince and his mother quite a bit. There's a lot of intrigue and emotion there though, and the family joy we see at the end of the episode, one that seems especially fragile after the events we've witnessed and their likely fallout, is warm enough to make us fear it being ripped away from everyone.
Family joy is in short supply in the Taylor household though. Julie coming home and crashing her car so she doesn't have to go back is a little extreme. Frankly, it feels a little 90210-esque, a problem this show can fall into at times, and even game me some bad, late-season House flashbacks. But Julie feeling aimless, embarssed, and restless, and Coach and Tami trying to figure out how to deal with this problem has some juice to it, if only from the performances.
I've sung the praises of Kyle Chandler repeatedly, but he absolutely sells how the typically at least outwardly unflappable Coach Taylor is absolutely rocked to the core by this news. Him leaving practice and showing up late to the game are big deals, and the 10,000 yard stare he unleashes says it all. And Tami is Tami, proving herself a great counselor by getting Julie to open up and be honest and to help in ways that Coach seems pretty incapable of. They complement each other well, and while there's certain traditional gender roles at play here, it gets something of a pass given the locale and the culture it's depicted in.
The other storylines aren't as interesting. I like that Billy is taking a shining to Luke after feeling a hole in his life with Tim gone, but Luke's jealousy over "having his scholarship stolen" by Vince feels a little extreme, and pairing him up with Bad Idea Billy may not work out. At the same time, the Mindy/Becky bonding continues apace, and I don't know that thrusting Becky and Luke together is the solution to both of their problems. On top of that, Tim is getting the "where's Poochie?" routine that feels kind of awkward.
But for the most part, the episode works. It's not the show's finest hour, but to true the title of the episode, it's a pair of major departures. You have the show delving into the criminal world on the one hand, in a story that feels of a piece with something out of The Wire or The Sopranos, and you have the Taylors, on the other hand, who are normally the paragons of virtue and stability in this town, trying to deal with Julie's situation that's left all three of the Taylors (or at least the ones who can speak in full sentences) at a loss. I didn't love every moment of it (though the scenes with Vince and his dad were quietly touching), but I found a lot of it quite interesting.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-08-21T20:01:56Z
I think a little of The Wire spilled into Friday Night Lights, and I don't know how to feel about that. In some ways, I'm glad they brought Karnell back, because that loose end seemed a little too frayed for it to just be forgotten. And Karnell himself was legitimately scary, both in how he threatened Vince when he was trying to go for a run, and especially when he was accosting Jess. I also liked how Vince was this close to going to Coach and then chose not to because it'd be too much to explain. So he goes to his dad. And Ornette has a moment of brutal triumph, where he seems to make things "straight" with Karnell without his son having to bloody his hands. But it seems like a sacrifice, like Ornette putting himself at risk to keep his son out of it, with the tragic element that there's a good chance helping his son to "get out" will send him back to jail, something that would hurt Vince and his mother quite a bit. There's a lot of intrigue and emotion there though, and the family joy we see at the end of the episode, one that seems especially fragile after the events we've witnessed and their likely fallout, is warm enough to make us fear it being ripped away from everyone.
Family joy is in short supply in the Taylor household though. Julie coming home and crashing her car so she doesn't have to go back is a little extreme. Frankly, it feels a little 90210-esque, a problem this show can fall into at times, and even game me some bad, late-season House flashbacks. But Julie feeling aimless, embarssed, and restless, and Coach and Tami trying to figure out how to deal with this problem has some juice to it, if only from the performances.
I've sung the praises of Kyle Chandler repeatedly, but he absolutely sells how the typically at least outwardly unflappable Coach Taylor is absolutely rocked to the core by this news. Him leaving practice and showing up late to the game are big deals, and the 10,000 yard stare he unleashes says it all. And Tami is Tami, proving herself a great counselor by getting Julie to open up and be honest and to help in ways that Coach seems pretty incapable of. They complement each other well, and while there's certain traditional gender roles at play here, it gets something of a pass given the locale and the culture it's depicted in.
The other storylines aren't as interesting. I like that Billy is taking a shining to Luke after feeling a hole in his life with Tim gone, but Luke's jealousy over "having his scholarship stolen" by Vince feels a little extreme, and pairing him up with Bad Idea Billy may not work out. At the same time, the Mindy/Becky bonding continues apace, and I don't know that thrusting Becky and Luke together is the solution to both of their problems. On top of that, Tim is getting the "where's Poochie?" routine that feels kind of awkward.
But for the most part, the episode works. It's not the show's finest hour, but to true the title of the episode, it's a pair of major departures. You have the show delving into the criminal world on the one hand, in a story that feels of a piece with something out of The Wire or The Sopranos, and you have the Taylors, on the other hand, who are normally the paragons of virtue and stability in this town, trying to deal with Julie's situation that's left all three of the Taylors (or at least the ones who can speak in full sentences) at a loss. I didn't love every moment of it (though the scenes with Vince and his dad were quietly touching), but I found a lot of it quite interesting.