Friday Night Lights 510- He's Our Coach

Spoiler Alert...Below are some random thoughts on last night's Friday Night Lights. So before reading any further, watch the ep, chase some oranges, then read what I have to say.

Buddy Garrity- "A man can't leave if you erect a statue of him in his honor."

And so for the time being, Coach Eric Taylor remains in Dillon. Buddy and the rest of the boosters did not erect a statue of the stoic Coach, but the fans and the players certainly did enough to keep Coach around for a while. As we close in on the end of what has been such a fantastic series, last night's episode not only did a fantastic job of recognizing what Eric Taylor has meant to this town, but what Kyle Chandler has meant to this show. As each member of the Lions got up on stage to say how much Coach meant to them, I felt like it could have been every fan of the show getting on stage to thank Chandler for bringing the heat week in and week out. With the end in sight, is the questioning over for what happens to Coach in the end? I can't imagine so. Will the series end with him undoubtedly staying around to coach the Lions for all of eternity? Will he change his mind in the final episode and take his talents to South Beach...err where ever that Florida college is located? Or will he start to question it again, and then leave us all in the dark? Personally, I'd like to see him move on.

Speaking of Buddy's quote at the top, how on point was he this week? At the end of the day I'd argue that, like Hurley of Lost, Buddy Garrity is really what Friday Night Lights is all about. His love of this town and this community gets to the heart of this viewer, if not all of them. Between him desperately fighting to get Coach to stay in Dillon, and him pouring his heart out in order to help Tim Riggins get out of jail, Buddy was killing it in every way he could this week.

And yes Tim Riggins is out of jail and has returned to Dillon. Although he was never a peppy man, prison has definitely put Timmy Riggins in a somber mood. What the ending to his character arc will be is one of the most intriguing questions to the end of the series. Does he take another run at Becky? Will he head back to college? Will he forgive Billy and stick around to live out his life with his brother? Riggins has always been my favorite character on the show, and I'm just happy to have him back with us for the final few eps.

Finally, like Alan Sepinwall, I am "skeptical that he (Luke) hasn't gotten any interest from colleges." This another case where Friday Night Lights changes characteristics or attributes of a character without ever showing those changes in progress. Luke was the best new player West Dillon had seen in a while when East Dillon stole him away. He was as talented as Luke on offense last season, and has become the best defender on a team challenging for the state championship. How he won't be playing football in college is beyond me. Sure he won't be an NFL prospect, and hence should find other interests, but football is definitely in his future and should still help him get an education.

*Alan Sepinwall's review of last night's episode over at HitFix.com

I'm still waiting on the returns of some of our other favorite characters of the past (Landry, Tyra), but for the time being, let's look forward to seeing if the improbable run to a state title can happen to this team of recent misfits. Seriously last year they were a laughing stock of high school football, and now they're one of the best team's in the state. Coach Taylor should be jumping straight to the NFL.

Friday Night Lights 507- Gone Missing

Spoiler alert...Below are a few thoughts on this week's episode of Friday Night Lights, "Perfect Record". So watch the ep, protect your high school's football field from intruders for a while, then read what I have to say.

My least favorite thing about writing for TV Fanatic is that I hardly have time to blog about many of the other shows that I watch. With Sons over, and Chuck, One Tree Hill and the NBC comedies on winter break, I am free to get back to what I used to love doing on this blog...finding a couple random things from a given episode that got me fired up, and explaining what I loved or hated about them.

As good as Friday Night Lights is at dramatic moments and character stories, the series is almost as bad at continuity problems and holes out of left field. My gripe for this week is the situation with the good old Dillon Panthers. Now is it possible that J.D. McCoy could have been injured or transferred to another school? Sure. I do not think that was the story they were going for, but I'll buy it. The fact that they jumped right into this game with the Panthers and all of a sudden they have an African-American quarterback threw me through a loop. If J.D. is hurt or left, this should have been a bigger part of the plot. This kid was a huge antagonist in the past, and you just breeze past it. I know that you want to get as much Ormond Howard in every episode as possible - a point I'll get to next - but the Panther/Lion rivalry has to be more important than this episode portrayed. Hmmmm, where was Wade? You know the coach that the town of Dillon was up in arms over getting him in as the coach? Oh he's just not the coach anymore. Gone with J.D. And our old buddy Mac is the coach now?!?! How does this coaching change get glanced over? Who is watching this show and just says, "oh Mac is the coach now. Wade's gone. J.D. isn't playing. This isn't a big deal at all."?

Now back to the part of this week's FNL that wasn't making my brain all kooky. Cress Williams has just been killing it as Vince's dad, Ormond. This week was no different as he has quickly taken on the role of Cam Newton's father. I love it when television imitates life. That's how the saying goes right? He's definitely up to his old tricks, as he has Mrs. Howard falling for him again, Vince actually liking him, and putting Coach Taylor in his place. This is his boy! He'll do things the way he wants! And if he takes gifts from coaches and then tells Vince he has to go to Auburn, so be it! I'm sure this will only end badly for my man Ormond, but it's currently a fabulous ride. Coach Eric Taylor will probably get the last laugh, but if Cress Williams tells him how thing is going to go down one more time, I might lose it from how studly he is.

Friday Night Lights is off for a while and will return to finish its fifth and final season January 5 on DirecTV's 101 Network.

Friday Night Lights 502- Problem of Guidance

Spoiler alert...Below are a few thoughts on last night's episode of Friday Night Lights, "On the Outside Looking In". So watch the ep, put your panties in a locker, then read what I have to say.

Although we are only two episodes into the fifth and last season of Friday Night Lights, I find it necessary to write about how we might be in for a troublesome season.

The first and most obvious reason, is that we've lost almost all of the characters we learned to love from the beginning of the series. Even last season we were still holding strong with Riggins, Saracen and Landry (my three favorites throughout). Now you expect me to care as much about Vince, Luke and Jess? Because I don't. Sure Becky is a nice addition, but Riggins and dynamic duo were absolute classics. It seems too difficult to replace these guys.

Secondly, because many of our youngsters are gone, Tami has taken on a bigger role. Or maybe it just seems that way because she is so horrific, but she has been obnoxiously visible these first two episodes. Every single time she comes on screen, with one of her terrible guidance counselor stories, I want to change the channel (I'm watching on my computer so that is impossible). I mean this week with Epic? I wanted to put her 243 cigarettes out in my eye.

As I segue from mother to daughter, Julie at this college is going to be brutal. As she proved last season, she brings nothing on her own. Julie was great in seasons two and three when she was either with the great Matty Saracen or arguing with everything her mom did. Julie as the anti-Tami was great because of my true hatred for Mrs. Coach. As she pulls her best Brenda Walsh impression, going away to school only to come back home, Julie's story line is going to be brutal for at least half this season.

And finally, I have a problem with the East Dillon Lions. This team was absolutely awful last year. You see, an underdog sports movie works because you get to see them putting in the effort (see the Mighty Ducks with the eggs and such). Yeah I get that the beat the Panthers, but I chalked that up to emotion and luck. Between seasons, are we supposed to assume that these kids got that much better that they are now worthy of being ranked? I didn't see it happen, so it just makes the fact that they're complaining about not being ranked that much more annoying.

So that is why I am skeptical of this season being as good as any of the others, until many of our favorite stars return for two or three episodes near the end of the series. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.