Serial Watcher – Friday Night Lights – 2-01

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Last time we visited Dillon TX, the Panthers won state, Tami was pregnant, Eric was on his way to Austin, Matt and Julie were dating, Landry and Tyra got closer as he helped her recover from being assaulted, Riggins seemed to get his life in order, The Garrity family was breaking up and Jason was once again involved with the Panthers, this time as assistant coach. So what’s changed?

It’s high summer and Julie’s a lifeguard at the local pool. She’s also bored with Matt and afraid they might turn into Eric & Tami 2.0. The Panthers, mostly Riggins and Smash, were partying all summer. They also have a new coach, who’s a real hardass and Landry made the team. Lyla is a born again Christian, while her mom has a new life partner and Buddy sleeps in his office.

Tami gives birth to her second daughter, Grace, three weeks early, which brings Eric back home for a very short while. Something is very screwed with the timeline of this subplot as during an argument Julie says that Eric was in Austin for eight months, and it just doesn’t make sense, as Tammy has been pregnant for eight month when the episode started, and when the first season ended she was probably in the second month of pregnancy, so that lives only six months or so for Eric to be in Austin. I also find it hard to believe that he didn’t come home at least on the weekends this whole time. I’ll let that slip because other than that the dynamics in the Tyler household seem to so genuine and real. I especially liked that Eric suddenly sees Matt as the preferred date for Julie, when he’s faced with the option of a Swedish boyfriend.

But, while most of the episode brought back fond emotions that reminded me why this was the best new show last year, there was a major part that I just didn’t like. I guess it’s not hard to tell what it was Landry and Tyra. It started with the stalking. At first I thought she was going through some kind of emotional distress but when Landry went into the store alone I started to worry, and when the stalker approached, my fears became true. It was still a good storyline at that point and continued to be when Landry played the role of “knight in shining armor” as he hit the stalker. But their actions afterward really ruined it for me. I can see how these guys might be terrified, but dumping the body in the river and running away just doesn’t seem right on Friday Night Lights, especially for Landry. This whole thing has a vibe of I Know What You Did Last Summer and might give the new season an atmosphere of a crime or mystery show rather than the small time drama it had and made it such an excellent show. For now I’m willing to give the writers of Friday Night Lights the benefit of the doubt that it will turn out good, because they’ve proven in the past that they’re all very gifted and can write a great show, but they don’t have much time to fix it. Please get this over so the real FNL will be back. I just hope it’s not something that network pressured them to write as a ratings stunt.

But even with that blemish, Friday Night Lights is still a great show. It was just so good to see all the familiar faces in the opening scene. And we also learned a valuable lesson this when in doubt just ask yourself WWRD what would Riggins do. Come to think of it, perhaps that’s how Landry decided to dump the body.

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