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Welcome back to our Friday Night Lights rewatch!
Last week, Dillon was a town literally and figuratively divided over the East vs. West high school rezoning; Eric’s tough “love” approach fails miserably as the Lions forfeit their first game at halftime; Tim’s already given up on college and returns to Casa Riggins, much to expectant parents Billy and Mindy’s dismay; Matt’s delivering pizza while loudly slumming it in Dillon Tech’s art classes; and JD McCoy is a newly minted piece of shit.
Stephanie asked what I thought of these Season 4 changes and the storylines being set up. I truly can’t remember if I ever watched this stretch of episodes, but I certainly hope there won’t be much more uncomfortable berating of Black teenagers by an angry white man!!! White saviourism aside, I do think it’s narratively brilliant to put Eric on a deeply struggling team, instead of more of the same with West Dillon. All the other subplots, though — I am less enthused. But it’s still early and I remain optimistic, especially given high praises for this season among the rewatch team. In other words:
… yeah, let’s get some drinks.
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
On to the episode!
4.02 “After the Fall”
We learn that the only thing worse than losing a football game in Dillon is forfeiting one, as evident by the Taylors’ new white flag lawn decorations and the Lions players refusing to show up at practice. Without even Landry freaking Clarke in his corner, Eric asks Vince for help in rallying the team for a special Saturday night practice — and they show up! More importantly, Eric apologizes for giving up on them. He pledges to finish what they started, and so do the players. But now they all need new uniforms, on account of burning the old ones as an unconventional team bonding exercise.
Over at West Dillon, Tami discovers that the new star running back, Luke Cafferty, has been enrolled under a fake address — thus instigating yet another round of Tami vs. Joe McCoy. After failing to bribe her to look the other way, Joe warns any investigation into dubious addresses could invalidate previous West Dillon wins and even championships. Tami crashes a booster meeting to fill the rest of them in on Joe jeopardizing their past titles. Mutually assured destruction might keep Joe at bay, but the school is pissed off about losing Luke, as Tami gets booed vociferously during the pep rally for the West Cambria game.
Elsewhere in Dillon, because we have to check in on the youths:
- Landry runs over Jess Merriweather’s bike, and she demands payment for the damage. He ends up at her family’s restaurant, Ray’s Bar-B-Q, where her dad promptly puts him to work by throwing out the trash.
- Tim butts heads with Billy, so he finds a new place to stay: the trailer in Becky and her mom’s yard. ($100 per month is a steal of a deal!)
- Thanks to his alleged pluck, Matt gets an internship with local artist Richard Sherman. (Love that he gets rewarded for having a superiority complex!) When he quickly gets fed up with grunt work, Matt demands feedback on his portfolio, and Richard obliges by ripping out the only part he liked.
How many times do I have to take a drink?
22
Did the Lions win?
Yes, in that the team still even exists — and now with a new running back!
MVP of the Week
No one’s really having a good time, but maybe Eric by default? He’s ever so slightly bouncing back from his coaching rock bottom, and he honestly needs all the victories he can get right now.
Most Baffling Assists of the Week
Why were there (1) a pep talk about finding your inner pirate and sword swinging from a gas station rando, and (2) Tim showing up at East Dillon and Eric accepting his help, only for us to not see that actually happen? I feel like there was something on the cutting room floor that would have pulled these diversions together.
Best Taylor Couple Moment
That darn mailbox is causing trouble beyond football, in that Tami felt blindsided to learn that it existed long before Joe’s reign of terror. Even though Eric maintains plausible deniability on booster shenanigans — my guy, that is your queen of a wife. Do not try to bullshit her!
… HOWEVER, I’m putting their spat as a best moment because Tami remains mindful of Eric’s feelings and apologizes for the shitstorms he’s going through, even when they’re arguing. And all’s well that ends well; Eric ends up apologizing for lying when they commiserate over their woes — and celebrate their tiny wins — at the end.
Tim Riggins’ Finest Brattiest Moment
Even if it’s in character for Tim to drop out of college and end up back in Dillon, I’m not a fan of this current subplot of wasting his potential and whatever complicated romantic entanglement might await with Becky and her mom.* But I did enjoy the rare glimpse of him being the obnoxious little brother with Billy.
* Even if that’s actually a bridge too far for Tim Riggins, he’s hooked up with practically every woman and teenage girl he’s interacted with, so this is a valid concern!!!
The Taylor Advice of the Week
Not so much advice, but I appreciated Eric taking accountability and apologizing to the players. Leading by example!
Post-Game Breakdown
- What’s Buddy playing at with telling Eric (and therefore Tami) about Luke’s address? Sabotaging his beloved team for his unreciprocated BFF?!??
- To get serious on the redistricting storyline for a moment: I immediately thought of how families of colour are disproportionately penalized for real-life residency fraud.
- This week in the show dabbling in problematic stereotypes: Vince’s mom being an addict who hits up Eric for money. (Speaking of: Vince is already breaking my heart by saying that he’s the provider for his family.)
- I’ve called Tyra out on it before (and maybe it’s just a problem with teenage characters in episodic television), but Matt’s so quick to get frustrated when things aren’t going his way. Maybe there’s a method to the madness; hello, The Karate Kid? Just trust the process — or at least wait a few more days!
- While I appreciate the inspirational bonfire, I do have to wonder how toxic and environmentally unfriendly those fumes must be!
- Lol at Eric having this photo of Tami on his work desk. Who would have even taken that in-universe?!?
Join us next week when Mandy C. recaps “In the Skin of a Lion”. My burning question for y’all: which new character are you most excited about?
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Actual lol: “as an unconventional team bonding exercise.”
Tami is SO BADASS in that booster meeting. But yeah, it always cracks me up when actors’ IMDb shots are used as character photos.
I’m most excited about Jess’ dad! (Ray?)
I assume his name is Ray, although it’d also be hilarious if he named the restaurant after someone else!
– Omg I didn’t see the picture of Tami on his desk but that is LOL worthy.
– “Sabotaging his beloved team for his unreciprocated BFF?!??” lolol the more Eric ignores him, the more desperate he gets. I think Buddy is also really chaffing at Joe’s takeover. Between that and his money issues last season he’s had so many ego-busters at once.
– That pep rally theme seemed very random, I agree. Perhaps the thought was to take it out into the community at the gas station to get more people to show up? (My biggest wtf will be in the next episode with them thinking the team pushing a car around the neighborhood for cash is a brilliant fundraising strategy.)
– While I agree that Matt was definitely too quick to be like, HELP MEEEE!! to Richard, Richard is a total asshole and I hate this storyline (I also know how it ends so that probably also colors my feelings). I feel like what Matt should’ve been more just pissed about the lack of basic respect for another person, like Richard you volunteered to host this “internship”, I assume, so perhaps pretend to act like you plan on teaching him anything vs just using him as free labor. As someone in education who sometimes see students have legitimate complaints about shitty professors who are somehow never get let go, people who are supposed to be teachers/mentors but are shit at it really push my buttons. NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO DO THIS.
– I’m probably most intrigued by Becky and seeing what layers get uncovered for her.
– I guess I’m surprised that Buddy’s willing to mess with West Dillon’s chances at STATE!!! Messing up his personal life is like whatevs, but FOOTBALL?!??!?!? 😱
– At least from this episode alone, Matt vs. Richard is a classic Everyone Sucks Here for me lol.