After six weeks, I’m afraid I have to face reality and accept what I was dreading all this time. It’s time to utter those two words that I didn’t even want to think about. It’s time to talk about sophomore slump.
I thought Friday Night Lights wouldn’t suffer the slump, that it’s too good, too down to earth and rooted in reality. But after watching this week’s episode twice, I can’t ignore it any longer.
Something in the writing is off this week. It started with the Landry/Tyra I Know What You Did Last Summer storyline. It just didn’t feel right. While it didn’t dominate the show, it felt like a soap opera storyline rather than FNL. The way it continued this week, with Landry’s dad burning the car was wrong. Last year we had Coach Taylor covering up for Smash’s steroid use and now we have a cop destroying evidence to protect his son. Feels like a rehash.
Then we had Tim Riggins acting like he did early in the first season. It was as if all the character development he went through never existed. He’s back to drinking his life away and not giving a damn. He seemed to change a little when he stopped Jason from going through with the moronic surgery, but has he really changed? This week’s best scene was when he started coaching Santiago and then Smash and Matt joined. But as good as this scene was, it also felt like a rehash of a scene from last year’s “Ch-ch-ch-changes” when Jason, Tim, Smash and Matt had their own private training session.
The other thing that still works is the relationship between Eric and Tami. These two have great chemistry together, and it seems like nothing can change it, but sadly that one of the only things left from the first season that really works.
I may sound too harsh, but in reality, while FNL does suffer the sophomore slump, in my eyes, it’s still better that many other shows. But it needs to change back into what it was, needs to get back on track. Perhaps the writers strike will be a blessing in disguise, as it will give the writers a chance to rethink some things when they get back to work. Hopefully, they’ll make the show as good as it was last year.
