Friday Night Lights: Boys II Men
Coach Taylor has to decide whether to keep Matt Saracen through the rest of the season and face losing a chance at the playoffs, or make freshman phenom JD McCoy QB 1. It's just the type of tough decision that Coach Taylor hates to make because he UNDERSTANDS the effect that decisions like this can have on young men, but he faces pressures of his own from Buddy Garrity and the boosters. Do you think it's easy being Coach Taylor? Do you want to be Coach Taylor for just one day? You would collapse under the pressure. Meanwhile, Smash got into Texas A&M, Tyra's falling for a rodeo clown with a pill problem, and the Riggins boys have stolen some copper wire from an abandoned power plant which is just the type of behavior that could keep Tim Riggins from ever achieving his true potential and he needs to realize that he's not doomed to fail but that the decision is his alone to make. Oh, and the Panthers are coming off of a loss, and if they lose another game they can kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Which makes you wonder, is Coach Taylor's decision to experiment with a spread offense, alternating between Saracen and McCoy on each possession, really that smart of a move? The Panthers look like they're going to lose again, and the Coach is feeling the pressure, but sometimes that's where Coach works his magic best. He gives the ball to McCoy twice in a row. So much for the spread offense! McCoy strategically makes the plays to get them touchdowns and within striking distance of a comeback win. "JD McCoy is en fuego tonight," the radio host says, because Texas. Saracen is watching from the sidelines and you can just see the pain and frustration in his eyes. These high school kids aren't as dumb as they look. They know what's happening in the adult world around them. Saracen gets the ball and scores the final touchdown but no one cares, it's McCoy's night. After all of the work Saracen has put in. I hope Coach Taylor knows what he's doing to this young man. (Coach Taylor knows. This is a tough one!)
Julie Taylor gets a shitty heart tattoo on her ankle. Obviously, Coach and Mrs. Taylor are NOT HAPPY about this. They think the problem is that they raised her better than to permanently deface her body with a tattoo, but the real problem is that they raised her better than to get a stupid heart tattoo on her ankle. "You're acting like I have giant dancing Popeye tattooed on my bicep," she says, as if that wouldn't be such a better tattoo. For someone who thinks she's so smart, Julie Taylor doesn't know the first thing about what would be the coolest tattoo. But eventually the tattoo brings Julie and Mrs. Taylor closer together, because small towns and family and love.
Billy Riggins has set up a meeting to sell their illegal stolen giant copper wire rolls. The meeting is with Dillon's most infamous and still not in jail for some reason meth dealer from season 12. Guess what happens? He tries to ROB them, if you can believe it. The frog and the scorpion or whatever. He makes a joke about Billy's fiance, Tyra's sister Mindy, who is a stripper (oh, btw, Billy is engaged to Mindy, Tyra's sister. Mindy is a stripper, that's why when the meth addict makes disparaging remarks about her, it's about her profession as a stripper). Billy punches him in the face. BOOM. First punch of the season! The meth dealer shoots at them with a gun, but they drive away. Now they're going to have to sell all this copper wire to someone else.
Oh, but also, Tim Riggins and Jason Street have hatched a plan to buy Buddy Garrity's house and flip it, because Jason Street wants to pay for his baby like a man, and if there's one thing that the current economic climate in America is perfect for it's rash real estate get-rich-quick schemes devised by people who have no experience in the market. So Billy and Tim are going to invest their copper wire money, but now there isn't any copper wire money, so how are they going to get a loan from the bank to buy the house so that they can flip the house? Oh man. Business is hard! But then they do sell teh copper wire and they get the loan from the bank, but then Buddy Garrity refuses to sell to them. "This house can rot into the ground before I sell it to this clown car of idiots," he says, because he is a genius. That is the best thing to say. Jason Street does eventually sweet talk Mr. Garrity into selling them the house, and by sweet talk I mostly mean play up the relationship they used to have when Garrity thought Street was going to be his son-in-law and the shattered dreams that that wheelchair represents for all of Dillon. Closing dealz.
Congratulations on your new house, goof troupe.
Mrs. Taylor does not approve of Tyra's pill-popping 20-something rodeo clown boyfriend, and she lets it be known, because one thing that principals do in small towns is they keep tabs on 29-year-old, 15th-year-seniors' dating and they tell them what's what. Tyra is so old. Anyway, Tyra goes into Mrs. Taylor's office and she gives her quite a speech about how Cash is good for her and how she has her priorities in order. Uh oh. Something tells me that speech is going to come back to haunt her when the romance inevitably blows up in her face. It's not so much that it's an obvious narrative arc (although it is) but just historically, Tyra has terrible judgment when it comes to the men in her life. Real talk.
Coach Taylor does the hard thing and tells Matt Saracen to his face that he is benching him. Matt just wants to quit the team, but Coach won't let him, because Coach don't make no quitters. "Fine, I'll sit on your bench, I'll come to practice and I'll do whatever you tell me to do, but I'm gonna hate it. And you're gonna hate it. Good talk, Coach."
No one said shaping boys into men was going to be easy.
Posted by Gabe at 1:00 PM in Love-Watching
Tags: Friday Night Lights
my wife thinks tim riggins may be illiterate which might explain trashing the college letter and not being able to order at the restaurant. please lila, save timmy!
Score = 2
There was so much drama in that episode description. And so much of me not caring.
Score = -10
Thanks for stopping by!
Score = 4
Um, the meth dealer is from Season 2, but I completely understand you being distracted by Matt Saracen's constant emotional pain and also because Aimee Teegarden
Score = 1
Excellent recap, except for the bit about the spread offense. Alternating between Matt and JD isn't a spread offense. When JD is in the game with 3 or more receivers it's called a spread offense, whereas they use the I-form (two running backs) when Matt is in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_offense
Score = 1
Do not question Gabe's expertise in footsketball.
Score = 2
was going to say the same thing.
gabe knows no football
Score = -2
Tyra's old? I think Lila Garrity's almost 30!!
Score = 2
it is refreshing to have a nearly irony-free re-cap from gabe.
it's nice to know he really, really likes something aside from moms.
(but let's get off of moms...)
Score = 1
1. Smash's final scenes last week made me tear up (ok, sob).
2. I'm so over Jason Street. I'm trying hard to remember the last time I cared about him, and I think it was towards the end of season 1.
This season's been great. Tim Riggins was my fictional character Valentine.
Score = 2