About:
Drinks Taken: 35
Follow the whole rewatch here!
At the end of season 3 we sent: Lyla to Vanderbilt, Tyra to UT, and Riggins to San Antonio State. Matt chose his Grandma and Julie over art school in Chicago. Billy and Mindy got hitched and Coach Eric got ditched – by the school board, that is. (Tami would NEVER.) Smarmiest man in the world Joe McCoy installed his puppet coach at Dillon High, and the school board offered Eric the teensiest conciliatory crumbs: he can still coach for the new school, East Dillon.
You’re gonna need a drink for this episode, so here are the new rules!
The Official FYA Friday Night Lights S4 Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
You want to give Matt Saracen or Julie Taylor a hug
Tami Taylor has a glass of wine
Tami Taylor says “y’all”
Landry Clarke rambles or goes off on a tangent
Tim Riggins is exasperated / perplexed by Becky
You want to give Vince a Coach-style talk
Luke is just so earnest!
Gracie appears in a scene
You want to punch Joe or J.D. McCoy in the face
There’s a scene with BBQ
Stan is a LOT
You ship Jess and Vince (sorry Landry!)
You tear up
Drink twice every time:
The Lions score a touchdown
You think, “F**k the Tami haters.”
You’re (surprise!) Team Buddy Garrity
Tim and/or Billy Riggins makes poor choices
There’s a classic Coach Taylor pep talk
Take a shot when:
You hear, “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”
You hear, “Texas Forever.”
Smash is mentioned
Glen shows up
Skeeter arrives
Finish your drink when:
The Lions get their new uniforms
There are two major goodbyes at the end of Episode 6
The Lions win their first game
Steven Hannibal Riggins arrives
Buckle up, because I have Thoughts today.
4.01 “East of Dillon”
It’s August in Texas, y’all. Yikes. We pick up five months after the season 3 finale. School is back in session, but this time it’s happening at our old stomping grounds, Dillon High, now known as West Dillon (WDH), and the newly reopened East Dillon High (EDH).
I need to pause here and say I wish they’d spent more time on the set up of East Dillon, because I have lots of questions. It’s like when they buried an entire “Landry killed a man” plot, except instead they excavated a corpse and dragged it around the football field a la Weekend at Bernie’s. Yes, it was mentioned last season, along with a whole “gerrymandering the map for the team” we won’t touch, but beyond that?
Outside of Smash, there are not many Black people in the Dillon we visit. So it certainly felt like a Choice to reopen East Dillon, have the school board assure the school would be improved and fixed up prior to opening—though it definitely wasn’t—and then populate it with mostly Black students we’ve never seen. You could argue that when East Dillon closed initially it was a school zoned in the mostly Black area of a very segregated Dillon community, so the students who went there were sent off to various schools elsewhere (and perhaps shitty parents at Dillon High fought to keep them out of their school, hence the still mostly white population). This could then provide some context for why there’s this whole side of town we’ve rarely explored. They could be more explicit about the root of the parental outrage we see this episode, as everyone views EDH as inferior for legitimate (lack of funding from the school board) and illegitimate (racism) reasons. Except none of what I just theorized is mentioned.
While I KNOW all of this isn’t necessarily the point of the show, season four is seems to be setting up multiple plotlines that will focus on race, socio-economic disparity, and Eric coming in as this White Savior of a coach to teach this struggling, mostly Black team the value football has on the male spirit (yada yada).
None of these storylines are inherently bad if they provide nuance, context, and proper setup. But after finishing this episode, I…am not confident that’s the case. What it felt like was the writers needed a new “challenge” for the characters, so they thought, “Hey, people like football movies like Remember the Titans and The Blind Side, right? Let’s just do that!” Most egregiously, race is never even brought up, to the point where it feels intentional that they are trying to downplay it despite it seeming to permeate through these storylines. Perhaps I’m asking too much of late aughts TV, but it felt wrong watching this in 2025 not to point out that the execution is lacking.
*Steps off soapbox*
Let’s discuss each storyline by order of induced frustration (mine, natch).
Landry and Julie are actually doing fine. Landry is headed to East Dillon, and bandmate Devin soon joins him (in moment where Principal Tami Taylor gravely calls her out of class and walks her down a dim hallway to where, I assume, she forcibly kicks her off campus because she should actually be at EDH). Julie sees this and decides she’s going to choose to go to East Dillon because her only friends are there. (Apparently Lois graduated?!)
Matt is working as a pizza delivery boy and going to art classes at Dillon Tech, but feels like it’s beneath him when he gets critiqued. His art professor is all, “Well, go to Chicago if you’re too good for us,” which, fair, but Matt is really just struggling internally with his decision to stay home for Grandma, as sweet as it was, just like WE ALL KNEW HE WOULD BE.
As principal, poor Tami has to play nice with Joe McCoy and the rest of the Boosters when all she wants to do is scratch the smugness out of his beady eyes. Joe flaunts his new power in Tami’s face and demands her do the Friday coin toss, meaning she’ll be forced to miss the Lion’s game. (Buddy is the only Booster NOT having a good time; Joe has ousted him as the richest and thus most influential booster and perhaps also because his buddy, Eric, is gone.)
Tami then has to go deal with angry parents at some back-to-school kickoff meeting in the caf, and this scene makes no sense (but it could have if they poured more attention into this plot re: my above rant). Parents whose students have already been zoned for EDH are there to bitch at her for sending their kids to a “lesser” school. A) Why are you here? Go bitch at your new school. B) This was not Tami’s job or choice. Go yell at the school board! C) No one comes right out and says they’re mad because they’re racist and don’t want their kids at a Black school, but that is how it sounds to me. And while it doesn’t seem written as if they’re trying not to say the quiet part out loud—I think the writers want us to believe these parents are genuinely just mad that it’s a less well-funded school—all we know of the South, the time period, and human behavior…so it feels disingenuous.
Now we get to a quietly despondent Coach Taylor. Eric is allowed to feel defeated and upset that he was fired. He should be fired up mad that the field is trashed and there’s literal trash pandas living in the locker room, and be off demanding the funds they were promised to fix it.
Instead, he takes his frustration out on the newly recruited football team, made up of mostly Black players who are portrayed as so incompetent they have no idea how to huddle. Perhaps they’ve never even seen a football before. Eric goes to every practice with even less joie de vivre than usual (he can be a real hard-ass). When #23 starts a fight with Landry, Eric LOSES it in the locker room. He calls them cowards and dumbasses for fighting and that fighting, talking back, wearing jewelry, etc. won’t be tolerated “in his house!” #23 refuses to apologize to Landry, so Eric literally yells in his face until he leaves, and he invites anyone else who refuses to comply to get the hell out, which some do.
GUYS. This is NOT a good look for Eric. I know there’s a whole “coach gives tough love” mentality to these sport ball games that I will never understand, but this is far and away the worst he’s ever yelled. There is so much actual anger behind it. Eric is berating literal teenagers who’ve probably had, at most, two practices with him. There is no trust between them yet as coach and team. They haven’t met the wise, advice-giving, would-let-a-player-stay-at-his-home Coach Taylor. Likewise, he doesn’t know them. And the optics of a white adult man (WEARING A RED HAT NO LESS) literally screaming in a Black teenager’s face is really discomfiting, especially in the context of everything else in this episode. This 😬 was my face throughout this whole scene.
Finally, Tim Riggins attends half of ONE college English class AND THEN DROPS OUT OF COLLEGE. He’s feeling footloose and fancy free as he rolls up to Billy and a VERY pregnant Mindy’s house and declares he’s gonna work for Riggins’ Rigs and live with them, and, meanwhile, if you look closely, Billy has steam coming out of his ears. That heartfelt plea in front of the limo for Tim to do better, and Tim couldn’t even SIT THROUGH ONE DAMN CLASS. I didn’t think I’d ever agree with Billy, y’all.
How many times do I have to take a drink?
35. So many y’alls and punches.
Did the Panthers Lions win?
The Lions that didn’t quit after Eric’s temper tantrum get their asses handed to them Friday night. At halftime Coach Taylor looks around at the multitude of injuries and makes a unilateral decision that they’re forfeiting the rest of the game. Without consulting anyone else. I’m sure that won’t blow back up in his face next week.
(To be clear, I think it was the right call; the players were wrecked, and I think Eric was finally remembering they’re just kids who need protecting.)
MVP of the Week
Meet Geek Squad Sears Appliance Guy turned Football Coach Stan Traub! He’s Coach Taylor’s biggest fan and literally begs for the chance to work with his idol. Stan is A Lot, as we mentioned in the drinking game, but Eric is also full of piss and vinegar this week so everyone annoys him. Stan is a bright spot in the football scenes, and I laughed when he tactfully told Eric that saying “my way or the highway” was a “risky move that may not have paid off.”
Asshole Play of the Week
JD McCoy has gone full raging asshole and it’s GROSS. He’s the most rude to Julie and Matt, so maybe it’s residual anger at the Taylors for calling CPS on his dad? He also still hung up on Matt finishing the final game of the season as QB instead of him, so I guess it was the blow to his ego he never recovered from. He’s fully assimilated into the football jerk Joe always wanted him to be.
Through JD, we meet up-and-comer Panther, Luke Cafferty, who tries to counterbalance JD’s assholery, but more on him next week.
Coach Snark
The Lion’s assistant coach gets scared off from a ball to the face and quits, so Eric sneaks back into West Dillon to sway his old assistant coaches to come work with him. Mac couldn’t explain the pay cut to Susan and declines, THANK GOD. (Coach Spivey eventually defects, though sorry to this man, but I have never seen him before, despite him having been in all 3 previous seasons.)
Meet Your Future MVP
Baby Michael B. Jordan! He plays Vince Howard, troubled youth, and I’m sure by this point in my recap you won’t be surprised that I cringed when he’s introduced literally running from the cops. Sigh. A former player of Coach’s brings Vince to Eric so he can be put on the team and kept out of trouble as part of a “last chance before juvie” kind of situation.
Best Taylor Couple Moment
Tami laments to Eric that she’ll miss his first game ever (EVER?) and yet he’s fine with it because they suck, and they are having a “conversation” but neither is actually listening to the other’s responses, lol. It’s a cute, little intimate moment in the kitchen that makes us say “aww” and Julie say “eww”.
Tim Riggins’ Finest Moment
CERTAINLY NOT WHEN HE DOES THIS:
After getting his ass handed to him by Billy in a baby’s bedroom, Tim sleeps with a bartender (more on her next week) and wakes up to the bartender’s daughter serenading them from the kitchen with the Star Spangled Banner (she’s opening Friday’s Lions game).
That’s Becky! The perpetually chipper, says-whatever’s-on-her-mind foil to Tim’s surly grunts. Right now she feels less like an actual character and more that she exists to be a thorn in Tim’s side, so we’ll leave it at that.
The Taylor Advice of the Week
Eric, in a reverse of attitude, to the remainder of his team before their first game: “There’s a joy to this game, is there not?”
Not sure at what point he thinks they found the joy this week?? TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE, TAYLOR.
Post-Game Breakdown:
- Landry being the “old pro” on the this new team and trying to show the other players how to act was kind of sweet.
- Our QUEEN, Tami Taylor, rocking that “bless your heart” Southern charm:
Next week Mandy W. is covering “After the Fall”. What do you all think of these season four changes and the storyline setups we’re seeing?
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You make some very compelling points! I also felt some cringing cross my face this episode, but having not seen S4 before and hearing good things about it, my hope is they address some of the glaring issues you brought up sooner rather than later!
Having rewatched the entirety of Season 4 (for the drinking game), I can tell you that, at least from my perspective, the writers are very focused on exploring race and the socioeconomic tensions in Dillon. This is a theme throughout the entire season, and as they bring in more characters from East Dillon (especially more adults), Coach Taylor’s role becomes much more nuanced than simply being a “white savior.” Again, that’s just my opinion; I’ll be interested to hear what others think as we progress!
And let’s be honest, did we really think Tim Riggins was gonna make it in college?! (I feel for Billy, I really do, but come on.)
I also think Coach’s reactions were wrong, to be clear, but I think that’s the point; he’s flawed, and he’s mad that he has to be there, and he’s taking it out on the players. Definitely NOT cool behavior but I think it’s in line with his character and his motivation.
– I have watched a few more episodes into the season and I still personally don’t think they’re hitting the topics with as much…care, I guess I’ll call it, that I would’ve hoped. It’s either not really touched on or referenced but not explored that deeply. I do wonder if they had any non-white, non-dude writers on staff, because I kind of doubt it.
– I think my biggest issue with Eric’s behavior, even if it’s in line with his character, is that the show itself isn’t really making a comment on it to say “he lost his temper with these teenagers but it wasn’t really ‘right’ of him to do so”. It just shows it and no one takes him to task for it so he ends up haivng a moment of “oh shit, that WAS messed up of me, and I should do better.” So then it feels like it supports it. I know the show isn’t an after-school special that needs to preach at us, and maybe it DOESN’T agree with him, but when it’s put in context with everything else from the episode and not commented on, that’s when it doesn’t feel right to me. In the next episode, people are mad at him and he ends up apologizing, BUT it’s only in the context of “you forfeited the game for us without asking, that’s messed up!” and not for anything else he did to them.
– There are so many lunkhead athletes who skate through college without doing a darn thing; he could’ve been one of them! lol.
The Lions stuff was rough. I know it’s still early, but I wish we had more than just Landry and Vince for the players’ perspective. Although funny enough (spoiler for the answer in my post lol), I’m also most intrigued by this season’s football stuff, since it’s such new territory for both Eric and the show.
I agree! It would’ve been nice to actually do a bit more “sports movie” focus on the team camaraderie since this is a new group. I’m like 6 eps in and I still don’t think most of them even have names, lol.