Friday Night Lights: “Hello, Goodbye”
6 February 2009
by R.A. Porter
Y’all think I’m going to talk about Smash, right? Or maybe Matt’s mom coming back into his life like a bad penny? Or Tami relinquishing ground like some Soviet general setting up a pincer for the German army?
I will. I’ll get to that stuff. But first let me tell you how I know this show we love is back.
Season 1: Landry’s got a crush on Tyra. Aww, isn’t that cute? The geek’s got a thing for the hot girl. But, well, I mean he is a *TV* geek, so he looks like Matt Damon and can play varsity for the best football program in Texas. Tyra thinks the crush is cute, but let’s be real. She’s in *high school*. She’s not going to appreciate the allure of the geek until several years’ worth of mindless goons have used her up.
Season 2: Murder! Mayhem! Dad (a cop) destroying evidence! And lo and behold…Tyra falls into Landry’s arms. Ugh. Again, this is at least seven years too soon for Tyra to be smitten with a geek. And as for Landry, he *killed* a dude and dumped the body. C’mon!
Season 3: Tyra has moved Landry into the Friend Zone against his wishes. He’s fighting back against the inevitable, denying to himself that anything has even changed until the moment he can no longer deny it.
You’ve all heard the rule: write what you know. Well, in the first season the writers wrote from experience. Experience with pain and hurt and disappointment. Experience going for the girl who was out of reach. Experience with watching that girl make bad choice after bad choice. In the second season, someone decided to write fantasy. Wish-fulfillment is fine and dandy for fanfic, but FNL reaches great heights on the wings of reality. Landry was Mary Sue last year and it sucked.
This year, we’ve obviously returned to emotionally true stories about the girl who wants to be friends. The girl making bad choice after bad choice who wants to keep the dependable, reliable, puppy dog around for when times inevitably go bad. It hurts Landry, and it hurts to watch because it is true.
And bad choices? You can’t do much damn worse than a pill-popping rodeo clown cowboy. Fucking Tyra. I just want to slap that girl for being an idiot. Which is a lot better than last year, when I didn’t believe or care at all about what she was doing. So writers? Good job returning to your roots!
Now on to the rest.
I especially enjoyed the sleight-of-hand the writers pulled off with Tami. For almost four full episodes, the Jumbotron controversy has been built up into a feud of epic proportions which she diffused with a few kind words and a small grenade tossed on Buddy’s lap. What seemed a week ago to be heading to a confrontation that might end in her dismissal ended with a ceremony instead.
Looking back on that storyline, it’s pretty clear the goal was just to bring Katie McCoy and Tami closer together. Over the next few weeks, I foresee the two of them cementing their bonds and bringing the McCoy and and Taylor clans into tight orbit. The increased stress on Coach and Matt from that will be an interesting development.
And if *anyone* in Dillon needs more stress in his life, it’s Matty Saracen. I don’t know what his moms’ deal is. Maybe she was sincere. But I can’t see how this plays out well for Matt and Grandma Saracen. Best case scenario, Mama Saracen injects herself into their lives, makes Matt feel better about himself, takes some of the homelife stress off his shoulders, and bolts like before. Worst case scenario I can’t even calculate. Though I imagine it would have something to do with money in a mattress and Grandma in a group home. Or maybe a meth lab out back. No way to be sure.
Finally, a few words about Smash and Smash Momma. We couldn’t possibly have ended on a better note than Smash, his smile swallowing his face after a touchdown, trash talking Riggins. Two on two football, played for the love of the game with friends…this hearkens back to Street mentoring Saracen under the lights, and Smash and Coach playing streetball with a group of kids. Those moments when we’re reminded how deeply football is embedded in the DNA of these kids, how fathers pass the love on to their sons, are what give the show emotional heft. Letting Smash go out like that, playing ball with his friends, softened the blow at least a little.
Let’s just hope they have money in the budget to keep Liz Mikel around. The school could use a new nurse, don’tcha think?
What did everyone else think?
posted by R.A. Porter in → Reviews
February 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
"You're a molder of men," Tami says — and what a sweet thing that was, with so few fathers wandering about this small town. And she says it as they flirt together in a sad, empty local bar, of all things. It's always the details that get me about this show, like the truly hideous and completely believable restaurant that Matt meets his mother in. I recognize this town, and these small, personal struggles that all feel so big. And I like Katie McCoy (well, that's mostly because I love Maggie O'Connell), and I don't want her to go bad. I don't want Matt's mother to go bad; I want somebody to take some weight off his shoulders, just once, and then not dump it all back on him again when they leave. And I want Landry to keep fighting, even though Tyra kicks him in the teeth over and over again. But I don't imagine I'll be getting everything I wish for now, will I?
And Smash saying goodbye, with that beautiful, cocky smile on his face? That was a small glory all on its own.
February 10th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
What an excellent write-up! I think you've hit the nail exactly on the head re: Tyra/Landry dynamics, and it really is heartbreaking on both sides. She isn't ready for Landry any more than Julie was ready for Matt – both boys are stable, reliable, strong, steady, smart, and loyal. And teenage girls (I speak from experience) can't always recognize the difference between "stable, reliable, steady" and "boring", and they won't appreciate that until they've had some experience getting burned by the flashy, exciting, completely unworthy guys that will make every effort to distract them. It sucks that nice guys tend to finish last in high school, but I hope that Tyra has to go through a lot of what Julie went through last season – realizing too late that she threw away the best guy that ever looked her way, just because she wanted some excitement, and learning an important lesson about loyalty and commitment. I'd really like to see a setup where Landry is eventually in the position that Matt is now in with Julie, where he is the one being pursued and he is the one with the power to set the limits and boundaries, but who knows.
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I have higher hopes for Matt's mom. My take was that she wants to come back and be in his life, but she knows better than to let Matt know that upfront – she is under no assumption that she would be welcome. She keeps telling him "just for a few weeks" and "not long-term or anything", but methinks the lady doth protest too much. I see her as being in this for the long-haul, but maybe that's more my adoration of Kim Dickens as an actress – I want her to stick around!
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Re: the budding friendship between Tami and Katie – I think the show has done a good job of showing that Tami is pretty isolated from her peers. In Season 1, we saw her trying to get out of the house to book club etc, and getting there and not being treated as a friend/equal but as "the coach's wife". In Season 2, we saw her struggle to make a friend in the school staff, and that one friendship (Glenn) caused trouble/jealousy in her marriage. She needs a solid female friend, someone who understands the pressures that she is dealing with. The thing that troubles me is this: Is Katie just using her to promote her son's advancement on the team? Because Coach accused Tami of letting herself get played by Katie McCoy once already – I never was clear about Katie's motivations viz-a-viz the barbecue. It would really suck for Tami to finally open up to a friend, only to find herself yet again not being treated as a person, but as a "role" (principal, coach's wife, etc). I'm also getting a weird vibe from Katie, like she's always a half-step away from making a pass at Tami.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Some very nice insights there, Shara, especially with regard to the parallels between Matt-Julie and Landry-Tyra. I'd never really thought of the two relationships being similar like that, but considering season 2 (which I try not to do very often) it makes a lot of sense.
As for Katie coming on to Tami…not to be too crude, but that would be *awesome* for me.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Hee hee it would be awesome for me as well. *fingers crossed!*