Friday Night Lights Review S3E6

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 Netflix (and Peacock), and you can follow along each week (on a Friday, of course) as a different episode from season three will be discussed, from the opening episodes with an up and coming freshman QB all the way to the big game in the season finale.

Random thoughts in live-tweet form.

• Emily says goodbye to Jason, who is still sad and still trying to make it all work. She is a lot more level-headed about it all. They kiss, which indicates they are together in some form.
• Tami is talking about the school dance this weekend, but Eric says he has other plans and won’t be there. Julie says she isn’t going either.
• Joe McCoy makes a toast at the breakfast table to QB1 but JD wants to wait for celebrations until after the game. Katie asks her son if there are any cheerleaders he is interested in, but his dad is quick to say he shouldn’t have any serious dates right now.
• Matt’s grandma is all up in arms over Matt being benched.
• Tim ditches school to work on the house with the other guys. Billy asks why he and Tim are doing all the upstairs work, forgetting Jason and Herc are in wheelchairs. Billy seems like he’s in a bad mood.
• Landry and his band are practicing and it’s not going well. Jimmy and Caster quit the band after some disagreements.
• Cash is talking with Tyra at work while she’s on her break. Cash gives her some money for her college applications. She asks him to the dance and he isn’t excited.
• After a game (?), Tim tells JD to get in his truck to get a tour of “Tim’s Dillon”. He drives him by the Landing Strip, but says JD isn’t ready for that. He tells him Fran’s is the best place for hamburgers and Smitty’s is a dive bar which is a good place to get away. JD asks Tim if coach made him do this and Tim says no.
• Mindy is dress shopping and tries one on with butterfly wings. Tyra’s mom is chastising her about her choice of colleges and tells her to hang on to Cash.
• Eric and Julie run into Matt and his grandma in the grocery store. She lays into Eric about benching Matt. Matt and Julie go off by themselves to talk and laugh about the situation.
• Jason shows up at the house and finds them all straying away from the plan. Billy spends too much money on a toilet and decides to knock down a load-barring wall. Billy and Jason start yelling and Billy nailguns his hand.
• Tyra gets a visitor from a woman looking for Cash. She tells Tyra that Cash owes her $1600 in child support.
• Lyla wants to go to the dance with Tim and he agrees to go.
• Eric runs into Jason while he’s buying lumber. He shares the plan with Eric and tries to sound like everything is going well.
• Tyra shares her discovery with Julie and now doesn’t know what to do. Julie makes her feel better but then Cash comes in and Tyra tells him to leave and gives him the money back as he walks out the door.
• Landry takes auditions for a new band member. Jimmy ended up coming back to play the drums but Caster did not. A girl named Devin comes to play and she ends up being a very good bass player. However, she also takes over a bit and Landry is taken aback.
• Eric comes by to check out the house and Jason tells him what a disaster it is.
• Matt shows up in Landry’s car to ask Julie to go to the lake. She is surprised but agrees. They go swimming and are having fun together. Matt says he thought he was hoping to get a scholarship to help pay for college, but on the other hand, he’s not waking up thinking about everything he did wrong after a game.
• Tami tells Tyra she did a good job planning the dance and Tyra says she broke up with Cash.
• Landry is at the dance with Devin going over the songs he wrote. She tells him they are all kinda one song about one girl and that might be holding him back.
• Tim and Lyla run into JD at the dance and Tim tires to get them all to leave the dance and make memories. They end up at a party.
• Cash comes to Tyra’s house to try to talk and she opens the door for him to hear him out. Cash explains it’s not his baby and they were together for a bit but she’s crazy and he would support them if it was his kid. She believes him and takes him back.
• Tim tells JD he’s on his own at the party and tells him to have fun. JD finds some teammates and ends up giving into peer pressure and has some beer. he ends up becoming the life of the party while getting drunk and has to be walked out by Tim and Lyla.
• Eric surprises Tami at the dance and she is happy.
• Matt and Julie spend the night together at the lake and fall back in love once again. It’s clear Julie is the best thing in Matt’s life right now.
• Everyone is in church the next day going through a normal routine even though everything changed the previous night.
• Joe makes JD come up to Eric after church to admit that he was drinking last night. Joe basically apologizes for JD, not letting JD talk. Joe can’t separate himself from JD and his experiences at all.
• Jason sings to his child over the phone while taking a break from work.

Coach Taylor’s speeches.

Football observations.

• Riggins is leading the senior hazing with the freshman, organizing the Naked Mile. The freshmen strip down and then run around the campus. JD has to run the field house because he’s the quarterback.
• JD has to take a picture from the field house, but Coach Taylor catches him since he’s still in the office. Coach Taylor says he can’t believe he fell for the naked mile. JD is embarrassed and doens’t want his dad to know but Coach Taylor says he wouldn’t dream of telling.
• JD is pressing in practice and his teammates are giving him a hard time.
• Coach Taylor calls Riggins into his office and tells him to look out for JD and befriend him so he feels more accepted. He also reminds Riggins that he doesn’t have much time left in his Panther career.
• The Panther’s win easily in JD’s first game as a starter. His parents are thrilled and Matt sulks on the sidelines as everyone rejoices.
• In the locker room, everyone celebrates and Riggins invites JD out to party with them. Joe McCoy gets in the locker room and tries to fit in with the players, who find his energy awkward. Before JD can say he wants to go out with his teammates, Joe says they are gonna celebrate as a family. His teammates laugh as he walks out. Coach Taylor watches it all.

Unanswered questions.

Plot holes.

• For an athlete, JD is not a good runner.

Quote of the episode.

“You need to calm down here. You’re twenty years old. You’re not supposed to know what you’re gonna do the rest of you’re life yet. You’re doing what you think is best and following through what you think is best and that’s what you should be doing. You had a plan and you’re executing it, what’s wrong with that? You got to give it a chance and give yourself time. You can’t beat yourself up because you’re taking chances on things. Don’t start giving up on what you set forth to do in the beginning because that’s gonna get you nowhere and I can promise you that“ Coach Taylor

Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t Lose. official counter: 20

Texas Forever official counter: 7

Riggins quitting the team official counter: 3

Coach Taylor calling Landry ‘Lance’ official counter: 7

Jason’s job aspirations: quad-rugby player, football coach, car salesman, flipping houses