Friday, February 16, 2007

Friday Night Lights rocks my world

First of all, I just about died from adorableness overload when Matt asked Julie, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Man I totally missed out on having a super cute high school romance.

I have to say that I don't really like the Julie/Tyra friendship. It's seems to me to be such cliched TV stuff. But they are handling it really well (as they do with everything on this show) and it made for tons of great scenes in this episode. I was a little worried from the promo of seeing Julie in jail, but I'm glad that it wasn't totally ridiculous and involved Tyra and Matt and Landry too. Can I mention again how awesome Landry is? Everything is funnier when he's around. And of course the Taylors continue to prove that they're the most realistic family on TV. Everything that the Coach and Tami and Julie were saying after getting home from jail was completely spot-on. I especially loved the Coach's convoluted scenario with the "first" and "second" persons, it's so him. I also loved that Julie kept ending their arguments with "Whatever." I'm 23 but I still pull the "Whatever" whenever I'm irritated with my parents and just want the conversation to end. I don't think Tyra's all that bad but I can see how parents wouldn't exactly be thrilled that their previously studious and perfect daughter was hanging out with someone like her.

Anyway, onto the more serious part of this episode. It really didn't turn out like I expected at all, and I was really pleased. I was entirely expecting that Mac would just get fired but the way it all played out had so many more layers of complexity, and it was much more true to life and less cut-and-dry. The scene where Mac resigned at the Taylor's house was extraordinarily well-acted, and I can see why the Coach decided to keep him on. And simultaneously, I loved Mama Smash's little speech to her son about how the best way to prove them all wrong was to play the game and that he would be proving his leadership by bringing all the other players back as well.

And the situation at the game and on the bus...talk about intense. I was honestly scared when those cops were threatening to pull Smash from the bus, and was envisioning all sorts of crazy overdramatic scenarios that could result, so I was completely surprised and relieved when Mac stood up so firmly and made them back down. It was a little convenient that the Panthers got to win the game anyway, but the whole storyline was so incredibly well executed that I didn't mind that so much.

How is it possible that this show gets better and better every episode? Don't kill me for saying this, but I almost want the show to get cancelled prematurely so I'll have good memories of it and it doesn't have a chance to spiral downward as most shows eventually do after a phenomenal first season.

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