The Friday Night Lights Season 2 Premiere

Thanks to Heart on a Stick's heads up, I've just watched the season premiere of Friday Night Lights. It's streaming on Yahoo right now through the end of the weekend. INTENSE, to say the least. Tho I'm not quite sure if it's going in the right direction. Thoughts after the jump (SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE EPISODE!). My thoughts on Gossip Girl can wait for another day... (pic via)

I'm not gonna recap this episode, cause if you're reading this you better have already seen it.

First the good. The Matt/Julie rift seems genuine. Her excuse to her dad about not wanting to become him and her mom was a half-assed one, but I think it was supposed to be. That whole thing with the other guy (whose band was actually kinda good?) was just a dumb Highschool chick being dumb. That's typical, understandable and realistic relationship stuff. I don't wanna see them broken up, but it can get interesting. These scenes were the best, old-school FNL gut-tingling scenes of the whole episode. They should stick to that more.

Also, the coach in Austin thing is not gonna last. I mean, all signs point to that new hardass getting run out of town and him coming home, right? I hope they don't drag it out too long, and I expect some great scenes leading up to that.

Now the questionable/sketchy stuff. Lyla's uber Christian ways are a little over the top. This show revels in it's authenticity, and to have a character who is so obviously going for something sticks out. They could have toned it down a notch or two. All signs point to the writers not really having anything for Lyla to do this season, so they gave her a new character trait that's not gonna work.

The Matt and Landry scenes seem a bit too much too. Still very good, but it seems like they got a good response to those scenes from last season, and went a little overboard trying to get more like it in. Their back and forth seems a little shellacked on after the 14th awkward back-and-forth this episode.

Finally, the big doozy. And this is the one that I worry could really drive the show off the cliff if they're not careful. The Landry/Tyra murder thing. They better tread VERY CAREFULLY going forward on this one. What I like about my TV characters, on heartfelt, realistic shows I love, is that the characters always stay true to themselves. If they are someone who always makes the right decision, they NEED to make the smart choice. This is why nobody could handle Sandy Cohen cheating on the OC, and this is why nobody will be able to accept that Landry threw that body off the bridge after killing him in self defense. He is a smart kid. Flawed, yes, but in the end, a great student and a stand up guy. Any reasonable person, after possibly killing someone who was trying to rape a girl, calls 911 and lets it play out. That would have been enough of a drama! To go against all reason and rationale to hide a body when you're completely justified in attacking/killing is absurd! I love the movie Bully, but I CANNOT accept this show becoming that. If I have to deal with this plot for the rest of the season, I won't be able to feel sympathy for these people because what they did was so dumb from the offset. If it was Riggins and Tyra, maybe. But Landry? He was the moral center of the kids in this show. It just makes me mad. The show can't support plot for the sake of plot. The final episode last season proved that, and this will signal its end unless they somehow manage to pull it off.

Of course, If i tune in the second week and it turns out they went ahead and did the right thing, driving him back to the Hospital, I'll bite my tongue. I'm scared that I shouldn't expect that tho.

Comments

[Nate]

Do you recommend FNL over Newport Harbor? I've been getting into the latter but I feel like I've made the wrong decision.

[bill p]

Those last ten minutes scared me, I'm real worried NBC has made them amp up the drama. But we do not have enough information at this point and I'm willing to give this show the benefit of the doubt, especially as almost everything about this episode was great. (Lyla's snarky Saying Grace aside).

[LuxMusic]

Friday Nights Lights might be one of the greatest shows on television right now. (Hold on, wait for the connection... wait for it...)

Reading your post reminds me of the time in high school that this girl and I, well ... uh. Maybe this isn't the best forum to air my dirty laundry. But if you're feeling a bit dirty, check out LuxuriaMusic.com.

OK, I lied, I had no connection. But both FNL and LuxuriaMusic are great. There that's your connection!

[Bill]

Do you recommend FNL over Newport Harbor? I've been getting into the latter but I feel like I've made the wrong decision.

[franky]

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[Nate]

That's weird that someone wrote the same thing I wrote. I didn't do that. At any rate, I bought Season 1. Thanks for the recommendation--it's great.

[kelly]

you see, i think the whole Lyla/religious thing totally makes sense to me. her religion & 'how she should act' has been pounded into her head for her entire life. ESPECIALLY in a small town in the south. soo she had been 'straying' with all her business last season and what was she left with? her parents divorced, she got humiliated when cheating with Riggins, quits cheerleading & best of all, the back and forth and ultimate demise of her relationship with jason.

at the end of season one she is literally at the end of her rope. [um hello, crashing cars for no reason]. she's lost EVERYTHING that she loves, knows, and is passionate about. that left her totally poised for the religious folk to scoop her up and 'set her right.'

it did seem very shocking at first until i rememberd that there is quite a time lapse where we're to assume she gets deeper and deeper in this return-to-religion mindset. but, she's not too far gone, as you can tell with all the judgemental prayers directed at her mom and that dude.

maybe it's just because i'm a female from the v. religious south... but her storyline is something i can totally relate to. but boy, they better get her a plotline soon cause that will get old real fast.

oh and hell yeah Bully Stick.

[Tammy]

Am I the only one who will never watch again? Wasn't FNL about football, and the team that played it? Doesn't NBC promote enough "Days of our lives" drama while I am at work? I really liked season one. I don't have the heart to continue with season two, it is ridiculous. It makes me wish I never saw season one so I wouldn't care! It's awful!!!

[Audrey]

Oh Kelly, don't give up so fast. They had a lot of new connections to make and new plot lines to develop. Besides, who wants to watch the fill in coach with the team any longer than we had to? Obviously Coach Taylor is going to miss family, they'll miss him, he'll see his boys getting beaten down, and he'll be back and they can refocus the show. I agree the drama was a bit much and disappointing. I'm hoping that was to pull people in who aren't current fans, and they'll get back to the simplicity of the show within an episode or two. I must add my only major complaint over Season 1 and 2 has to do with Matt and Julie. What two teens who have dated for any length of time still act like they are being introduced for the first time EVERY SCENE. Even after 8 "supposed" months in the relationship he gets all worked up asking her to the party as if its a prom invitation to a girl he hardly knows. The stuttering and awkwardness between them is painful.

[audrey]

Above blog for Tammy, not Kelly. Oops!

[okey]

thank you