Friday Night Lights Review S2E10

During the offseason, we are continuing our weekly series discussing thoughts on arguably the best football TV show ever in Friday Night Lights. If you haven’t seen it, there is no better time to start. If you have seen it, there’s no better time to rewatch it. And if you’re like me, and watch an episode or season every year in preparation for college football, you’re right on track. Regardless of which category you fit into, it’s on Hulu Netflix (and Peacock), and you can follow along each week (on a Friday, of course) as a different episode from season two will be discussed, from the opening episodes with a new coach at the helm to the sudden cliffhanger caused by the writer’s strike.

Random thoughts in live-tweet form.

• The episode starts with a tornado warning. Tim and Shelly are babysitting Gracie, with some minor flirting.
• Julie comes home and she and Tim go to the store for more baby formula. It’s apparent they haven’t really ever spent much time together as the awkward conversations occur.
• At the store, a tornado touches down and Tim protects Julie. They instantly bond.
• Tami hears that a school in another town was damaged by the tornado and remarks how sad that is. But Shelly and Julie are too distracted to respond due to watching Tim workout outside.
• Eric gets a call from the principal, who has offered to let the school’s football team use Dillon as a practice facility for the time being. What could go wrong?
• Tami tells Eric she is concerned about Julie and Tim being in the same house together. Eric says he likes balancing out the genders in the house a bit.
• Lyla’s mom tells her she is going to get remarried to Kevin. Lyla doesn’t seem particularly excited.
• Riggins and Smash are making fun of the player with the curly afro, so the players are not as accommodating as the coaches.
• Landry tries to hold hands with Tyra in the cafeteria and she calls him out on it. She doesn’t want people to see them together.
• Buddy takes his kids to an arcade and they have a lot of fun. Lyla breaks the news to him about the wedding accidentally, thinking he already knows.
• Tim is fixing things around the house and being helpful. Julie tells one of her friends with Tim did to protect her in the grocery store.
• Landry comes to Julie asking for advice about Tyra. He tells Julie he is taking Tyra to the dance this Friday but Julie questions if she is aware of that.
• Chip, the QB1 from Laribee, comes over to Tyra and hits on her, and offers to take her to the dance. She blows him off.
• Julie talks to Tyra about Landry and she tells him they aren’t really together but it’s complicated.
• Landry shows up to the restaurant Tyra works at. She tells him she doesn’t have time to talk. Landry asks her to the dance, but she declines and eventually says she is going with someone else.
• Shelly is flirting with Tim, who is trying to drink beer in the house. Tim is trying to bribe Shelly to do his homework for him.
• Buddy is trying to calm Eric down about the trouble with Laribee.
• Julie and Tim are hanging at a restaurant when Matt and Carlotta walk in. Julie storms out upset without even talking to them.
• Buddy shows up to talk to Pam about the big news. He tells Pam he loves her and they should be together. Pam tells him it’s over and she’s happy and it’s all going to be okay.
• Tami wakes up to noise coming from downstairs. It’s Eric and Tim playing ping pong in the garage at 5am.
• Smash and Tim are talking about Tyra. Landry defends her and they tease him. Landry goes up to Tyra while she is talking to Chip. Chip and Landry get into it and it leads to a fight between the two teams in the cafeteria. The tension that has been building all week is let out as the whole school gets into it.
• Shelly gets a shirt for Tim and Tami calls him out on it. They get into a fight. Shelly shows Tami how much she’s grown and how responsible she is with Gracie.
• Tim thanks Eric for helping him out in the weight room yesterday in a very genuine moment.
• Julie and Landry hang out at a party instead of going to the dance. They both bash relationships.
• Riley (who is in a class with Julie) comes in to hang out with Julie.
• Landry shows up at the dance to see Tyra, who is sitting on the bleachers by herself. They make eye contact and she smiles at him. They talk and Tyra says she likes Landry and hasn’t felt like this about anyone but that scares her a bit. And she is sorry that she needs time to think about things. Landry says it doesn’t make sense and she is better than the situation she is in and he can’t keep waiting for her. Then he leaves. They both end up sad.
• Tim shows up at the party. Julie is drunk and Riley is hanging over her. Riley tells Tim his plans for the night and Tim threatens him til he leaves.
• Tim brings Julie home and puts her to bed to make sure she is okay. He isn’t trying to do anything but Eric walks in at the wrong moment and doesn’t understand what is happening. He assumes the worst and kicks Tim out of the house without listening to reason.

Coach Taylor’s speeches.

Football observations.

• The district rival, Laribee, arrives on Dillon’s campus. Reporters are out to interview Coach Taylor about it. He says they will be good hosts and then send them on their way and he’s not concerned about having them here while playing them in two weeks.
• Coach Taylor tries to organize how two football teams will practice at the same time. They will alternate between the practice field and the weight room/film room, but they have to share a locker room. Coach Dickies criticizes the facilities and Coach Taylor about leaving TMU.
• The Panthers come back to their locker room after practice and find some pranks have been done by the Laribee team. They broke into their lockers and put crude nicknames on the nameplates. Their clothes are wet and trashed.
• Naturally, the Panthers retaliate. They put shaving cream and baby power on their clothes and throw them all over the floor. Coach Taylor catches them in the act and goes off on them, telling them to clean it all up.
• Laribee goes over their practice time. Coach Taylor has to act them to leave the field. He also tells them to respect the locker room and his player’s belongings. Coach Dickies laughs it off as a harmless prank (in sharp contrast to Coach Taylor’s reaction). Coach Taylor tells him that if they don’t back off, he won’t like what happens.
• Coach Taylor makes his team run decks to atone for the fight. The Laribee team carries on as normal. Coach Taylor says they need to set a good example and they didn’t.
• Coach Dickies ridicules Coach Taylor for the fight, rubbing it in his face more.
• After practice, Riggins and the rest of their team discover all their clothes have been peed on by the Laribee team. Riggins goes to the weight room and calls them out. Coach Dickies dismisses him and tells him to get out. Even after a player admits what he did, Coach Dickies still directs everything at Riggins.
• Riggins goes after the player and Coach Dickies pushes Riggins down, telling him to never lay a hand on his players. Coach Taylor walks in and immediately grabs Coach Dickies and pulls him against a wall. Coach Taylor tells him if he ever does that again, he will never coach again. Then he leads his team outside to talk to them.

Unanswered questions.

• Coach Taylor finally calls Landry by his correct name. Why does he change now?

Plot holes.

• Coach Dickies (who Coach Taylor said he’s known for a long time) was Coach Gainey from the Mud Bowl episode in season 1.
• It does not appear like the two coaches are good friends. Coach Taylor calls Coach Dickies Coach Crybaby.

Quote of the episode.

“Listen to me... if you ever, I mean EVER, touch one of my players again, you will never coach another football game as long as you live, you understand me? And after that, I will kick your old, tired ass six ways from Sunday, Donald!” - Coach Taylor

Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t Lose. official counter: 19

Texas Forever official counter: 7

Riggins quitting the team official counter: 3

Coach Taylor calling Landry ‘Lance’ official counter: 6

Jason’s job aspirations: quad-rugby player, football coach,