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Welcome back, Panther fans! This is our last recap of the season (aka: 2024), but fret not: Sarah will be back in January to catch us up on all the Dillon doings.
Last week: Lyla shows up to Mexico to talk some sense into Riggins and Jason, who actually sort of listen, for once. Julie tries to get back together with Matt, who stands up for himself quite admirably. Coach and Tami navigate postpartum romance, and Landry’s dad convinces Tyra to dump Landry because he suspects they both have something to do with that dude’s death. Which of course they did. Because this is Season 2.
Kandis asked me (and y’all!) how I feel about the teased-but-not-delivered threesome among Riggins/Street/Garrity (LYLA, not Buddy, you sickos). And listen, I think teenagers’ brains are too pre-developed to be making complex sexual and emotional decisions like threesomes, but it’s worth noting that, at the time of filming, the actors who played these teenagers were all in their UPPER 20s, so I would not kick any of them out of my bed (or each others’).
On that note!
The Official FYA Friday Night Lights Season 2 Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
You want to give Matt Saracen a hug
Tami Taylor drinks a glass of wine
Tami Taylor says “y’all”
Landry Clarke goes off on a tangent
You’re Team Tyra Collette
Buddy Garrity makes you roll your eyes
Lyla Garrity is a little (or a LOT) much about the Jesus
You think, “It’s JUST football, people.”
You are not a fan of the romantic relationship you’re seeing on screen
Glen is just SO Glen
Baby Gracie appears in a scene
You are reminded why no one likes Season 2
Drink twice every time:
The Panthers score a touchdown
Tim Riggins makes poor choices
There’s a classic Coach Taylor pep talk
Landry and/or Tyra stress you out
Tami and Julie clash
Take a shot every time you hear:
“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”
“Texas Forever.”
Finish your drink when:
Hands slap the Panther “P”
Landry straight up kills a guy
On to the episode:
2.06 “How Did I Get Here”
So many good things happen this week, so let’s quickly move past the murder stuff, m’kay? Landry’s just lying around mourning his recent status of being dumped by Tyra, and his dad says some sort of nice stuff (“she doesn’t have you feeling badly about yourself, does she?”) and some ugh-gross stuff (“well, girls can be squirrely that way. Especially the cute ones.”) about it. Meanwhile, the investigation has revealed not a lot of physical evidence except some fibers that match the seats in Landry’s car, and so his dad gets him to ‘fess up, and Landry does. They drive to the desert to set his car on fire together, and ok: both of these men are acting their asses off, and I do find Landry’s relationship with his dad to be really good TV, but a) a cop destroying evidence to protect his precious son while assuming it’s all the young femme fatale’s fault is YUCK and b) blowing up cars in the desert? Is this Breaking Bad? Bring my small-town football drama back!
So on my small-town football drama: on the way back to Dillon after their Mexican sojourn (a word that Tim Riggins does not know, but I assume y’all do), Jason says that he’s turning 19 next week, and he needs to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He goes back to coaching for a bit after Coach pretty much begs him, but he has a great talk with Lyla where he acknowledges how much of a “fish tank” Dillon is, this giant bubble that keeps them all in place. At his birthday party (to which every teenager in Dillon has been invited by Mrs. Street, as well as Coach Taylor, for some reason) he tells Coach he’s ready for more. They share a really wonderful moment, and Coach gives his blessing for Jason to move on from the Dillon Panthers once and for all.
Also moving on: Matt Saracen! A cute new girly’s in town and she is NOT shy about flirting with him. Julie has at least learned enough from his righteous speech last week to realize that she actually needs to APOLOGIZE for cheating on Matt, and he accepts it graciously and agrees to be friends. Still, he makes out with cute new girly (I don’t think we need to make a note of her name, tbh) outside Jason’s party, and Julie looks stricken. Friends can make out with other people, Julie! It’s GIRLFRIENDS who shouldn’t be doing that. Ah-hem.
Tami and Coach still have their hands full, as Tami heads back to work this week (allowing for a consummate “just SO Glen” scene – drink!), and Coach gets his first paycheck and realizes his salary has been cut by 37%. This idiot man accepted a job and quit another one without even DISCUSSING his salary? Turns out, the booster budget’s in the red, and the only way for Coach to get back within “spitting distance” of his last year’s salary is to take over as Athletic Director, which he is assured is basically a no-responsibility job and free paycheck. Way to fail up, Eric! However, before I get too furious about straight white men being able to walk out on jobs and then just waltz back in to big, easy promotions, Dillon High girls’ soccer coach Bobbie Roberts storms in and reads this man the riot act for the unequal distribution of resources among the athletic department. I love her, haha. She is TERRIFYING and I would die for her. Team Bobbie.
In football news, Coach kicks Riggins off the team for taking off to Mexico, and while I’m all about Tim Riggins facing consequences for his poor choices, it’s odd to me that no one points out to Coach that Tim only skipped school and went to Mexico to support Jason – whom, as we’ve already mentioned, Coach rehired without hesitation. Anyway, Lyla’s still looking out for Santiago, and when Buddy tries to get Coach to recruit Santiago, who is fast and strong but not exactly knowledgeable in how football works (when Coach tells him to “go long,” he just keeps running forever and never even looks at the ball that was thrown in his direction, it’s so funny), Lyla asks Tim to give Santiago some pointers. The episode ends, charmingly, with Tim, Smash and Matt all helping Santiago on the field, and Coach watches them, looking impressed (though not impressed enough to guarantee Tim a spot back on the team).
How many times do I have to take a drink?
14
Did the Panthers win?
They’re still in practices this week, which my theater-kid brain first typed out as “in rehearsals.”
MVP of the Week
This girl earned it! She looks out for Santiago and in the process she gets Tim’s lazy butt off the couch and halfway back into Coach’s good graces. But she really won me over in her scene with Jason this week, which I think is the best of the whole episode. He tells her that no one ever changes in Dillon, except her. He asks her how she changed her life, and she resists the temptation to say “Jesus” and instead shrugs, “You just do it.” So Jason does!
Sister Realness of the Week
Tami’s sister Shelley shows up to help with baby Gracie while Tami returns to work. I love their relationship – they snipe at each other, judge each other’s lives, and they also seem crazy about each other. Before Shelley even arrives, Tami’s complaining to Eric about how late and selfish Shelley is – and then she’s absolutely thrilled when Shelley gets there, squealing and throwing her arms around her sister. She’s annoyed with almost all of Shelley’s wild choices, and Shelley’s bored by almost all of Tami’s responsible ones, and they also truly act like there’s no one else on earth they’d rather be hanging out with. It rings very true.
Best Taylor Couple Moment
Coach shows up to Tami’s office to talk about his paycheck, and he’s so annoyed to find Glen there. Tami asks him if he’s jealous and he kinda wiggles his eyebrows at her, like, “Do you want me to be?” and she giggles adorably. It’s all very cute and flirtatious.
Tim Riggins’ Finest Moment
His actual finest moment was definitely when he starts helping Santiago out on the field, but that’s one of those Dramamine-requiring action shots that are impossible to screengrab, so instead I’ll show this picture of him and Billy, mere minutes after Tami catches them investigating her breast pump while they wait to speak to her in her office. It’s not his finest moment, but it is his most hilarious!
The Taylor Advice of the Week
It’s not advice so much as acknowledgement, but Coach telling Jason that he lifts up everyone around him, and that he’s learned as much from Jason as he hopes Jason learned from him, had me crying.
Post-Game Breakdown
This really felt like a Season One-level episode. The drama is minimal, and even the murder stuff has some beautifully acted, emotional moments between Landry and his dad. But it’s mostly made up of the kinds of moments that had me falling in love with this show, small stories about people growing and learning. And while Smash doesn’t really get a recappable plot this episode, he’s just around and being great the entire time, convincing Riggins to fight to get back on the team, helping Santiago on the field, just being the best Smash he can be. So honorable mention MVP to Smash.
Sarah will return in 2025 to recap 2.07, “Pantherama!”, for us. I have a question for her and for any readers, in honor of this great episode (and in acknowledgement that we generally talk a lot of trash about this season): what’s something you genuinely love about S2? An arc, an ep, a relationship, a shirtless Riggins scene – no wrong answers!
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– I agree, this was SUCH a stellar episode, with all of the things (as you mentioned) that make FNL great.
– COACH BOBBIE!! I mean, her speech would be impressive in any setting but talking like that to the football coach of the Dillon Panthers? LEGENDARY.
– The breast pump thing was like, just way funnier than it should have been. Oh those Riggins boys!
– Agreed on Landry and his dad putting on some powerful performances but also, yeah, this is not Breaking Bad. Where is this place with burned out cars? Clearly on another show!
I think the breast pump scene is made even funnier by Tami’s, like, “ugh, y’all, give me that.” She is the queen of low-key consternation at teenage antics!
I recall really enjoying the “Riggins at the Taylor’s” storyline, despite the reason for it being deeply annoying. But I might have been grasping at Season 2 straws?
I totes missed your recap last year! You’re right though, this was actually quite a good episode with a lot of great moments! Also, the Riggins sojourn line had me gigglesnorting.