Just a plea: I’m a major spoilerphobe, so please no information on anything beyond season 2, boxed or not, whether you consider it trivial or not. Just pretend for now that nothing beyond Season 2 exists yet — Thanks
Ah, so I couldn’t resist any longer and I took the plunge into Season 2 of “Friday Night Lights.” I finished it fairly quickly and I’m probably not going to be able to stretch out the rest of the series over time. I’m just too hooked.
So, let’s see. General thoughts: I really liked the Tim Riggins and Jason Street storylines this season.
Riggins is kind of like some kind of Don Giovanni crossed with a Tibetan Lama and Moose from Archie Comics and Otis the Town Drunk. He’s just unbelievably charming, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that he seems so passive about everything, just taking things as they come. As a straight man, I can say that I am totally charmed by him.
My favorite moment was Coach Taylor tracking him down at the girls’ gymnastics meet and Riggins being completely dedicated to what he was participating in. It’s like all he needs is a Dad to tell him what to do and he’s completely dedicated to it, whether it’s feeding a drug dealer’s ferrets or being the athletic department’s peon.
One thing that I didn’t quite like was how the whole Billy-hot neighbor story happened completely off screen.
I don’t know why Street had so little screen time, but what he had was quality stuff. When the waitress (Lauren?) said she was pregnant, I actually cheered for Jason—his boys can swim! I felt totally sympatico with his situation.
Okay, now I was warned by many people that this was a weak season and that it had a particularly pathetic story line. I’m guessing that the story that was being referred to was the Tyra-Landry-rapist-murder story line. I guess what bothered me about it most was that the consequences of being a killer would be much more serious on a psychological level than what was shown. I would expect Landry and Tyra to be way more fucked up than they were—basically reverting to normal teen-aged high schoolers by the end of the season.
But actually, the story that bothered me even more was Smash’s. I just did not believe the build up to the whole “racist town” thingy. Actually I guess the problem was that there was really no buildup. Smash is well known about town and he’s frequently with white girls. There was just no foundation in the series for this. And, even worse was the idea that a one-punch fight would somehow result in assault charges and then a revocation of his scholarship. Come on, I just don’t buy it.
Lyla’s whole story just bores me to tears. i just don’t give a fuck.
Buddy Garrity continues to be one of my favorite characters, mostly because I like to see him suffer, although I really started feeling for him a little bit when he was trying to do good for Santiago, even though his motives might not be entirely pure.
And, dude, how many people in Dillon have been offered a job at Garrity Motors by now?
Matt Saracen — I could totally buy his meltdown, but, again, I don’t think the groundwork was properly laid. It shot up too fast and then went away too fast. The whole Carlotta thing seemed way too parallel to Tim Riggins’s older neighbor story from Season 1. And why was there no detail on why her family suddenly needed her to go to Guatemala?
Tami Taylor —great character. And I understand they have to keep giving her things to do but —mother of a teen and an infant, guidance counselor, coach’s wife — and now volleyball coach too? I mean, she’s become super-human by this point.
Julie Taylor —love every bit of her pouty, obnoxious teenageryness. Totally believable.
Eric Taylor — Obviously he’s the star of the show, and it’s odd that I don’t have a lot to say about him. I guess his stories were basically as good as they should be. — I suppose one problem I have with Eric is the constant thought that if I knew him in real life, I would probably hate him. But accepting him on the show at face value, he’s the standupiest of standup guys.
More later, I suppose.
Oh and of course the jarring end to the season. I had forgotten it was strike-shortened.