There's a lot to like in this one. The feud between Luke and Vince is remiscent of the tension between Smash and Riggins, and later between Smash and Matt. (Man, Smash was feudier than I'd remembered.) There's a persistent theme of world colliding in East Dillon, whether it's the two most notable members of the East Dillon Backfield, or the Taylors and their West Dillon charms meeting the old East Dillon state champion alumni, or "aw shucks" Landry joining Jess and Vince at a party in their corner of town. I appreciate the unity and community notion that the show pushes here, that these different parts of town with different cultures can find common ground and become one whole. It's earned, if a little quick, and meaningful.
I'm less crazy about the romantic storylines with Matt and Tim Riggins. It makes sense that there'd be a tension in the fact that Julie is leaving for college, while Matt is going to most likely stay in Dillon, but it comes a little too easily here. Matt and Julie still just have a natural chumminess that you totally buy any scene they share, even when they're arguing over hypotheticals, but thier dissolution still seems kind of quick. I do like that the show remembers its history, and when Matt and Tim end up going hunting together, Matt asks Tim about missing Lyla and the idea about two people caring for one another but being on different paths. It's not super subtle, but it's a nice way to plant the seeds for what Matt tries to do at the end of the episode. And Riggins gives us a little more color on why college wouldn't really make sense for him, which helps ease the pure convenience of him returning to Dillon instead of living out Lyla and Billy's hopes for him.
But maaaaaan, this whole Becky thing is a drag. They're trying to bring out some pathos for her by showing that her mom isn't around or there for her, but the actress can't quite pull it off and the entire detante between her and Riggins feels forced. That said, Taylor Kitsch is at his best when he's doing dry comedy, and his retort about he too never making it into the Miss Texas pageant was pretty endearing.
We also get a brief aside about Julie going with Devin to a gay bar, that feels mostly there for texture, but does give us a little insight into Devin's difficulties meeting someone, and adds a bit of depth to the heretofor mainly annoying Stan Traub.
Still the major parts of the episode had to do with members of the community coming together while others are pushed out. Tami continues to catch flak for, as she vents to no one in particular in the car, doing the right thing by revealing where Luke actually lives, and it's an interesting contrast to how Coach and the Lions are, with some help, welcomed among those in East Dillon. It gives us a nice moment for Buddy, whose easy manner manages to grease the wheels with the skeptical East Dillon alumni, who have legitimate gripes for how they and their community were treated by East Dillon, but are won over and seem to buy into the new team with an assist from Buddy's easygoing ways.
The scene it leads to, where East Dillon holds a pep rally, is one of the stronger ones in what has been an already solid season. When the old East Dillon alumni come out and talk about having pride, about all of them being Lions together, it's stirring. Mr. Merriweather, who clearly feels burned by football, hence his reluctance, takes one step closer to accepting it and this team back into his life. Landry and Jess kiss, a small (if inevitable) sign of connection among everyone at that rally, and Vince and Luke, who come from opposite communities (as a now-sniveling J.D. McCoy reinforces), find enough common ground with Coach's intervention that Vince returns Luke's wallet and they seem to reach an understanding. This is a homecoming for a lot of people, some folks returning to home, while others are making a new one.
Then, there's that gut punch at the end of the episode, in a very well-done scene that tells us Matt's father has been killed in Iraq in a tasteful but devastating fashion. Seeing but not hearing Loraine's reaction, and the way Shelby runs to comfort her just pulls at your heartstrings, and Matt seemingly going to break up with Julie only for her to tearfully break the news to him is a bolt of lightning. Often times, Friday Night Lights can be pretty predictable -- it's virtues as a show lie in the performances and execution rather than novelty -- but once in a while it catches you off guard with a very different sort of homecoming, and delivers a heart-rending close like this one.
Overall, the best episode of this season so far, which, post-Jason Street and post-Lyla Garrity, has yet to have a real clunker.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-08-10T02:26:11Z
There's a lot to like in this one. The feud between Luke and Vince is remiscent of the tension between Smash and Riggins, and later between Smash and Matt. (Man, Smash was feudier than I'd remembered.) There's a persistent theme of world colliding in East Dillon, whether it's the two most notable members of the East Dillon Backfield, or the Taylors and their West Dillon charms meeting the old East Dillon state champion alumni, or "aw shucks" Landry joining Jess and Vince at a party in their corner of town. I appreciate the unity and community notion that the show pushes here, that these different parts of town with different cultures can find common ground and become one whole. It's earned, if a little quick, and meaningful.
I'm less crazy about the romantic storylines with Matt and Tim Riggins. It makes sense that there'd be a tension in the fact that Julie is leaving for college, while Matt is going to most likely stay in Dillon, but it comes a little too easily here. Matt and Julie still just have a natural chumminess that you totally buy any scene they share, even when they're arguing over hypotheticals, but thier dissolution still seems kind of quick. I do like that the show remembers its history, and when Matt and Tim end up going hunting together, Matt asks Tim about missing Lyla and the idea about two people caring for one another but being on different paths. It's not super subtle, but it's a nice way to plant the seeds for what Matt tries to do at the end of the episode. And Riggins gives us a little more color on why college wouldn't really make sense for him, which helps ease the pure convenience of him returning to Dillon instead of living out Lyla and Billy's hopes for him.
But maaaaaan, this whole Becky thing is a drag. They're trying to bring out some pathos for her by showing that her mom isn't around or there for her, but the actress can't quite pull it off and the entire detante between her and Riggins feels forced. That said, Taylor Kitsch is at his best when he's doing dry comedy, and his retort about he too never making it into the Miss Texas pageant was pretty endearing.
We also get a brief aside about Julie going with Devin to a gay bar, that feels mostly there for texture, but does give us a little insight into Devin's difficulties meeting someone, and adds a bit of depth to the heretofor mainly annoying Stan Traub.
Still the major parts of the episode had to do with members of the community coming together while others are pushed out. Tami continues to catch flak for, as she vents to no one in particular in the car, doing the right thing by revealing where Luke actually lives, and it's an interesting contrast to how Coach and the Lions are, with some help, welcomed among those in East Dillon. It gives us a nice moment for Buddy, whose easy manner manages to grease the wheels with the skeptical East Dillon alumni, who have legitimate gripes for how they and their community were treated by East Dillon, but are won over and seem to buy into the new team with an assist from Buddy's easygoing ways.
The scene it leads to, where East Dillon holds a pep rally, is one of the stronger ones in what has been an already solid season. When the old East Dillon alumni come out and talk about having pride, about all of them being Lions together, it's stirring. Mr. Merriweather, who clearly feels burned by football, hence his reluctance, takes one step closer to accepting it and this team back into his life. Landry and Jess kiss, a small (if inevitable) sign of connection among everyone at that rally, and Vince and Luke, who come from opposite communities (as a now-sniveling J.D. McCoy reinforces), find enough common ground with Coach's intervention that Vince returns Luke's wallet and they seem to reach an understanding. This is a homecoming for a lot of people, some folks returning to home, while others are making a new one.
Then, there's that gut punch at the end of the episode, in a very well-done scene that tells us Matt's father has been killed in Iraq in a tasteful but devastating fashion. Seeing but not hearing Loraine's reaction, and the way Shelby runs to comfort her just pulls at your heartstrings, and Matt seemingly going to break up with Julie only for her to tearfully break the news to him is a bolt of lightning. Often times, Friday Night Lights can be pretty predictable -- it's virtues as a show lie in the performances and execution rather than novelty -- but once in a while it catches you off guard with a very different sort of homecoming, and delivers a heart-rending close like this one.
Overall, the best episode of this season so far, which, post-Jason Street and post-Lyla Garrity, has yet to have a real clunker.