thoughts on Friday Night Lights: "Don't Go," "The March," and "Texas Whatever"

Well, I watched the most recent three episodes of Friday Night Lights today in one long "It's so hot/I'm tired from my trip and kind of have a headache" clump. Since all three episodes kind of blur together, I thought it made more sense to organize this blog by character, rather than try to separate my thoughts on each individual episode. Here goes:

Tim Riggins: So. Tim Riggins returns from jail (prison?) a changed, bitter man. The whole "taking the rap for Billy" thing was so stupid, as is the way Tim seems to remember what went down. Okay, so if I remember correctly (and I believe I do), Billy was the one who got them involved in the chop shop, but Tim went along with it knowing full well that the whole thing was illegal. He had some reservations about the whole thing, but he still did it. Right? And then he decided to take the rap for the whole thing so that Billy wouldn't go to jail. Like, the way I see it, no matter whose idea it was, they were both participating in illegal activities, and probably both of them should have served some sort of time, even if it was minimal. I don't get how one of them could get away with taking full responsibility for the whole thing when obviously it would take more than one person to run an operation like that, and I don't get Tim telling Tyra that he had "nothing to do with it." Um, yeah. You did. Though the Riggins boys do some stupid, stupid stuff and obviously one or both of them was going to wind up in jail or worse at some point, that whole aspect of this storyline continues to bug me. I love this show a lot, but sometimes the logistics of the non-football, non-relationship storylines bug me, like how Tami could go from being guidance counselor to principal and back to guidance counselor and now, apparently, is qualified to be the Dean of Admissions of a college. What the heck does she have degrees in? Does that make any sort of sense? And Jason Street is apparently a successful sports agent even though he is like twenty-one and has never (as far as we know) taken a college class? This type of thing bothers me very much.

But anyway, back to Tim. I was a little suspicious when Buddy Garrity volunteered to speak on Tim's behalf at his parole hearing; like, even when he started talking, I thought he was going to mess the whole thing up. And when Buddy was going on and on about how he knew Tim well because Tim had dated his daughter "for several years" (I think it was like one, with a little fooling around before that, but whatever), I was like, "Um, really?" Seriously-- did Buddy ever really come around to liking Tim when Tim and Lyla were going out? Like, I thought he developed sort of a grudging respect for him because Tim stood his ground when Buddy was all pounding down his door trying to get Lyla to come home that one time, and I'm sure he liked that Tim helped convince Lyla to go to Vanderbilt, but I just didn't buy him going on and on about what an upstanding young man he was and all that. Like-- didn't Lyla once have to give Tim $3,000 so that a meth dealer wouldn't kill him? I'm sure Buddy didn't know the details of that, and I'm not saying that Tim's not a really nice guy, because he is. However, he is also dumb, and gets himself into ridiculous situations, and I just didn't really buy that anyone but Coach and Billy would be willing to speak on behalf of his "character" like that. Whatever, I guess.

I'm not sure what we're all supposed to think about the whole idea of Tim moving to Alaska to work on the pipeline. Like, I agree with Tyra that he should probably start speaking to his brother again, but I really don't think it would be a bad idea for him to leave Dillon behind him. It was interesting, seeing Billy's situation through Tim's eyes: his pregnant wife still stripping, Becky waiting tables at the Landing Strip, and Stevie being baby-sat by the strippers in the back room. Like, we've spent enough time with the Rigginses this season that we know that Billy and Mindy aren't bad people and that they really are doing the best they can, but that must have looked bad, especially when, as Tim pointed out, he took the rap specifically so that Billy could get his life back together.

Tyra: First of all-- when Tim told her not to go, I really hope he just meant for that night, because OBVIOUSLY she needs to go back to college in Austin. I wasn't really feeling it when the two of them started kissing, but probably only because I am still sort of attached to the Tim/Lyla relationship even though it's not really happening anymore.

I did, however, really like the thing Tyra said to Julie about how Dillon is like a drug-- how when you get outside of it, you see it for what it really is, but when you're inside of it, you think there's no other possible reality. That's so true about anywhere, really; you live somewhere and you start to feel like the things that go on there and the people that live there are just what's normal, only to move somewhere else and realize that that's not the case. Your situation/life can be totally different in one place than another, even if you mostly stay the same. But I digress...

Julie: "I finished exams early." What? She actually eventually went back to school? After Matt ran after her car, it honestly wasn't clear to me whether she stayed in Chicago with him or went back to school. I would think she missed enough classes that this semester would be pretty much a wash, but whatever.

Matt: Wow, I never even thought of Matt as my favorite character (though I always liked him), but I sure get excited when he shows up unexpectedly. And Grandma Saracen! Yaay!

Eric and Tami: Oh, Lord, how are they going to resolve this? I get her being upset that he didn't really seem to be taking her job offer seriously, and I get him wanting to stay in Dillon. I just hope they work things out in a way that makes them both happy.

I guess I'll end there. I hope Luke and Becky work things out, and I'm glad Vince's dad now seems to be out of the picture. Can't believe this Friday is the series finale.