The third season
of Friday Night Lights was considerably better than the second.
First of all,
this season actually had a legitimate ending, unlike the last one.
Also, some new
characters are introduced with different results.
To the old
first:
Smash Williams
(Gaius Charles) is in the first episodes only. Apparently, thanks to the quick
recap in the first episode, we learn that he blew out his knee in the first
game of the post-season so they were out and he lost his scholarship. He’s
struggling to get his confidence back and wonders what to do with his life. He
even considers staying and taking the promotion at the Alamo Freeze. Luckily,
thanks to some wise words courtesy of Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), he pulls it
together when he finally gets an audition and soon he is off to college: Texas
A&M.
Jason Street
(Scott Porter) also has a fitting happy ending. His girlfriend, Erin (she has a
name), portrayed by Tamara Jolaine, had the baby, a baby boy named Noah. But
life is hard and money is tight. She decides that she can’t take it and moves
back to her parent’s house in New Jersey, taking the baby with her. Jason is
devastated. So he, the Riggins boys (Taylor Kitsch and Derek Phillips) and his
friend Herc (Kevin Rankin) decide to flip Buddy Garrity’s (Brad Leland’s)
house. This goes, well rough, in the beginning, but ultimately, the house
sells, meaning Jason has a bit of money to spend. He goes to New York, and
after getting his friend back to the original sports agent, Jason is given a
starting position at that same agency, meaning he can be closer to Erin and
Noah, which is exactly what he wants. That also ends happily, which makes me
happy.
More for Tim. He
and Lyla are dating which is going surprisingly well. He also manages to
graduate and get into college because he is San Antonio State’s number one
priority. His brother, Billy (Derek Phillips) is also getting married to Tyra’s
(Adrianne Palicki’s) sister, Mindy (Stacey Oristano). The Riggins boys also
steal some copper wire. But then Mindy breaks up with Billy upon Billy telling
her to quit her job. But she takes him back after he apologizes. Then Billy
decides to open up an auto repair shop. At the last minute, Tim decides not to
go to college though Billy insist that he still go. Throughout the season, Tim
also tries to take the new kid under his wing only to basically have that back
fire.
Matt (Zach
Gilford) has many story lines. First of all, he has a mother. In order to care
for his grandmother (Louanne Stephens) properly, he must become her guardian so
therefore he must become emancipated. Thus, he must obtain a parent signature
so he drives to wherever his mother lives. She can’t believe that his father
left him alone with Grandma but he tells her that she doesn’t really have any
room to talk. Though she signs the papers, she shows up and opts to help him
out. Shelby (Kim Dickens) was a teenage mother as it turns out but despite
everything Matt’s father was, she refuses to speak ill of him. However, though
Matt eventually accepts her help, Grandma does not. The two get along like oil
and water. Also, Matt, thanks to the new kid on the team, loses his position as
quarterback and eventually convinces Eric to let him be a running back.
However, at the last minute (aka the second half of the state game), Matt is
back as quarterback and nearly gives the team the victory only to have that
ruined by a last-second field goal. He also gets accepted to the Art Institute
of Chicago and places Grandma in a nursing home. Once again, at the last minute,
he decides he can’t leave Grandma because she’s the only person who never left
him. He won’t be going to Chicago after all. Also of note, he and Julie (Aimee
Teegarden) get back together.
Landry (Jesse
Plemons) doesn’t have that much to do this season after truly developing in the
last season. He is on special teams for football and continues tutoring Tyra.
They have broken up by the season opener, but get back together by the end as
he helps her with her college essay. His band is also back. After the other
guitar player quits, they audition a new one and he falls for her, but she
turns out to be lesbian to his dismay.
Tyra (Adrianne
Palicki) uses sex to get elected as senior class President to Tami’s (Connie
Britton’s) dismay. She buckles down on her college applications only to almost toss
everything away by leaving town with this cowboy, Cash (Zach Roerig) who has a
pill addiction, temper and is a compulsive gambler plus the habit of lying.
Tyra has to call Tami to fetch her from the dangerous situation which finally
is the call to turn her life around. She gets accepted into college and thanks
to some wise words from Landry, stops being selfish by getting his band an
actual gig. She throws her sister’s crazy bridal shower, a tea party. She will
be going to University of Texas.
Julie (Aimee
Teegarden) is fortunately not that much of a rebel this year and is rewarded
with her own car at the end of the season. She, like Tyra, gets a job at
Applebee’s so she can save up some money to buy her own car. She and Matt get
back together and have sex. The best scene is when Eric walks into Matt’s house
and sees the two of them in bed together. Tami has a great conversation with
her afterwards. I can see why that talk would be punishment enough. She tries
to encourage Matt to follow his dreams though she doesn’t want him to move to faraway
Chicago. She tries to break up with him in the season finale, though he refuses
to accept it.
Lyla (Minka
Kelly) is dating Tim and living with Buddy (Brad Leland) while her mom married
Kevin and moved to California taking her younger two siblings with her. She
opted to stay in Dillon with her father to finish her senior year. When her
siblings come to visit, she scolds them for acting like brats and tries to fix
things with her family. Then her father makes a risky investment and loses the
money, which is her whole college fund. She moves out and plays house with Tim,
though their house is disgusting. Eventually, thanks to Tami and her father asking
an uncle for money, she will be going to Vanderbilt. Before that, she decided
upon San Antonio State to be with Tim.
Tami (Connie Britton) is now the principal of
Dillon High but her challenges are horrendous. Instead of using the money given
to her by the football boosters for the purchase of a massive jumbo-tron, she
wishes to use the money to get some teachers back, plus the school is woefully
low on necessary supplies. She loses this battle. She also wants to buy a new
house that the Taylors cannot afford, but luckily she decides that she doesn’t
need a big ole house.
Before I talk
about Eric, I’ll deal with the new characters: the McCoy family. Son JD (Jeremy
Sumpter) is a freshman quarterback with a great arm, even better than Jason
Street’s. His father, however, is the character I love to hate. Joe (D.W.
Moffett) is filthy rich, but he keeps his son on a horribly close leash, not
letting him celebrate with friends after winning a big game. He doesn’t let his
son have a girlfriend and calls this girl’s parents to tell them that she was a
bad influence on his son. Katie (Janine Turner) is actually happy that her son
has a girlfriend and says that is the only normal thing that has happened to
him all year. Joe responds with saying that JD isn’t normal. (That’s a deleted
scene.) JD grows more and more resentful of his father as the season progresses
and after a game which the Panthers win, Joe scolds JD for not following his
advice to the letter and begins to literally start punching him. Though the
Taylors break up the fight, Tami has no choice but to call Child Protective
Services which causes friction between the families. Katie no longer wants
anything to do with Tami and JD no longer respects Eric. In the end, Joe uses
his money and power to get JD’s personal quarterback coach to become the
Panther’s head coach, I’ll get to more of that later.
Eric has a good
season as coach despite losing state in the last seconds. He tells Matt to
respect women and breaks up two fights. One between Tyra and Cash and the other
between JD and his father. However, because the school board wants to split the
town in two which would improve funding and class sizes, the football team will
be splintered so the boosters gerrymander the lines so the team will remain
intact. Eric’s job is up for debate, though he insists that his record should
speak for itself. I agree with this. Though he fights for his job, he loses it
to the quarterback coach and is instead named the head coach of the East High
Dillon Lions. Luckily, Buddy has also followed him over. So next season should
be interesting.
I liked that
sudden plot twist at the end considering my high school was somewhat similar. I
also went to a high school with East in its name and we were miserable at
football, winning only seven out of the forty games during my four years there.
Our rivals always beat us. The other school had a better reputation because we
had the minorities, though we got more headlines and more media attention.
Ironically, my high school was also the Panthers. Anything could happen with
this decision.
The problem I
have with this show, I thought that Tyra, Lyla and Tim were all seniors in
season one but obviously that was not the case and it bothers me, but I’ll
attempt to get over it. Also, baby Gracie should be in more scenes than she is,
but I’ll also try and get over that too.
Still, the
camera angles and editing are flawless and the acting is still great though
because the plot lines are more realistic and in tune with the characters,
there isn’t nearly as much crying as there was last season. This is certainly
the best acted show I’ve ever seen. Thank goodness the show is back in true
form and is nearly as good as season one. This season reminds me why I loved
the show so much in the first place. I still haven’t taken Matt back, but at
least I’ve forgiven him for last season, that’s a start. Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment