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Welcome back to our Friday Night Lights rewatch! We have crossed into the latter half of season 1 and I’m excited to get into this episode, y’all.
But first, Mandy C. asked last week if I would rather hang out with Buddy or attend a Crucifictorious show. Crucifictorious’s music is very not my jam, so I’d go with hanging out with Buddy. Put on a football game, let him talk about the ins and outs of the game, and I can pretend to pay attention with the best of them.
Previously in our rewatch, Lyla and Jason try to get closer, Riggins finally does his own homework, and we met Matt’s dad for the first time. But before we get into this episode, let’s review the drinking game!
The Official FYA Friday Night Lights Season 1 Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
You want to give Matt Saracen a hug
Tami Taylor drinks a glass of white 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
You think, “It’s JUST football, people.”
The quick camera cuts make you reach for the Dramamine
Drink twice every time:
The Panthers score a touchdown
Tim Riggins makes poor choices
There’s a classic Coach Taylor pep talk
Grandma Saracen says something sassy
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”
Jason’s incident happens
Book club admits they don’t read the book
On to the episode!
1.12 “What to Do While You’re Waiting”
Everyone is talking about the upcoming Buckley/Arnett Mead football game that will determine whether the Panthers advance to the playoffs, but this is somewhat interrupted by the news that the Streets are suing Coach Taylor over Jason’s incident. The party line by his parents is that they don’t want to do it but don’t see any other way to get the money they need for him; overall, though, Jason does not buy into this and does not support the lawsuit. At the rodeo fair that Friday, the final play of the Buckley/Arnett Mead game is broadcast over the fairground speakers, leading everyone to celebrate in unison at the news the Panthers are playoff bound.
Matt’s dad has decided to stick around Dillon instead of continuing to be a soldier, and Buddy gives Henry a car salesman job as a favor to Matt. This doesn’t last very long, though, since by the end of the episode Matt approaches his dad to tell him that he knows he hates being a car salesperson and is a great soldier, that he and Grandma Saracen will make do, and that he should return to being a solider; his dad agrees at the end of their talk. Meanwhile, Tyra kicks her mom’s boyfriend out of the house after he hits her mother. Later at the rodeo fair, Tyra gives her mom the ultimatum that it’s the boyfriend or her. When Riggins catches up with Tyra at the rodeo, he sincerely apologizes and asks for a second chance, which she declines.
Smash continues to flirt with Waverly, who thinks there is more to life than football and doesn’t easily fall for his charms. Smash lies to her that he’s friends with Matt and Julie and they do non-football things together; Matt and Julie go along with this ploy while they’re all at the rodeo, which does not fool Waverly and she calls him out. After the rodeo, Smash approaches Waverly to apologize and tell her he likes her; she says she’ll see him around and secretly watches him walk away through a window.
How many times do I have to take a drink?
15! A lot of Matt hugs and Team Tyra moments this episode.
Did the Panthers win?
It was a Panthers off week, but Buckley winning their game secured the Panthers’ spot in the playoffs.
MVP of the Week
Tyra had a lot of hard moments this week, but she stood up for both herself and her mom, even when her mom wasn’t standing up for herself, at important points and did what was right for herself through all of it.
Biggest Football Play of the Week
For an episode without a Panthers game, there was still so much football happening. Briefly interrupting the rodeo fair to broadcast the final winning play of that game was possibly the most Dillon moment (and generally Texan) thing that has happened yet, and I loved it.
Best Taylor Couple Moment
The moment Eric and Tami have discussing the lawsuit was not a happy one, obviously, but it was very real. I could feel through the screen Eric trying to reassure Tami that everything would be okay and that it wasn’t personal while at the same time trying to reassure himself of those same things.
Tim Riggins’ Finest Moment
I was starting to wonder if we were even going to see Riggins this week (gasp), but his one scene was a solid one. His apology to Tyra was sincere, but I fully understand Tyra needing to take the stand she did.
The Taylor Advice of the Week
Tami recommending to Julie that Matt come see her in the guidance office at school for possible help with everything he’s dealing with is solid advice that I hope he takes.
Post-Game Breakdown
With all of the different family dynamics on full display this week, the Taylor family relationships really shone this episode. Also, Jason, it’s fine to be upset about your parents’ lawsuit or be on board with it, but you went back and forth a bit there before deciding which way you really felt.
I pose this question to the next reviewer, Kandis, and to our lovely readers: are you more like Waverly in not caring about football, Julie in warming up to the sport, or Smash in being all about football?
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I’m somewhere between Julie and Smash, baby. I don’t regularly watch on my own but if a game’s on, I’m glued to it.
Ok, now I can divulge my favourite moment. When Julie comes home from Matt’s after witnessing all the stuff he has to deal with and how hard everything is for him, she comes to Tami and Eric who are watching TV or whatever and says something along the lines of, “Mom, Dad, you guys are the best parents and I love you.” Eric folds his hands behind his head and kicks back with a smug smile, like, “yeah, I deserve that” and Tami looks at him with alarm and goes, “Honey, no! Something awful must’ve happened!”
Just the absolutely hilarious clueless smugness vs Tami’s inherent empathetic mother’s intuition was beautiful. I love it and them so much.
Just the perfect distillation of their characters.
10000%
That was definitely in the running for my Best Taylor Moment, it’s so good.
YES lol further strengthening my belief that she’s carrying the team and he’s just there.
He’s just Ken.
Yes, I love this moment too!!
I fist pumped SO HARD for Tyra in this episode!!!! And when her mom told her that, of course, she picked her daughter over that scumbag, I most definitely teared up. Even her turning down Tim (which LORD must have been INSANELY DIFFICULT) was such a huge victory (thank you, writers).
Yes! Her mom picking her shouldn’t have been the unexpected move, but it was such a lovely moment. Tears here too.
— When Tim was asking Tyra for a second chance, I was like, “SECOND??”
— I don’t want to dwell too much on people’s bodies, but the abusive bf talking about Tyra’s ass just emphasized the different beauty standards between then and now. (Although things might be swinging back that way, so maybe not that different after all.)
— Tyra talking about her mom being a great mother stuck out, just because we hadn’t seen her (or even heard about her, I think) up until this point? I totally forgot that she was still in the picture, so I thought it was like the Riggins situation with the Collette sisters.
— LOVED the rodeo as a new setting for the characters to interact! Also felt very much like a small town thing for everyone to be there.
Football could disappear tomorrow and I would happily never think about it again, so…yeeeeah. lol.