FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Recap: “The Confession”

Over the past two weeks I’ve received a ton of emails from folks looking for me to reinstate the weekly FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS recaps (even if I can’t get around to them until Monday night).  So here you have it.  It’s rather lengthy so settle in.

So there was a lot to take in during this past week’s episode.  Another simply fantastic episode of the most under appreciated and under acknowledged shows on TV.  Where to start?  Who to start with?  Well, might as well start with the heart of Dillon, TX – the Taylor family.

Little Gracie is about to be christened, but her mother, Tami, and her godmother, Julie, aren’t exactly basking in the Christian spirit.  Still butting heads at every turn, Tami and Julie come to blows again this week in a screaming match so pitch perfect and honest I’m sure it resonated with generations of both mothers and daughters watching.  But with the fighting also came a small breakthrough.  Tami takes a moment to Julie to acknowledge that the family isn’t doing well, but she wants things to be better and go back to the way they were – and although she’s doesn’t say it outright, we think Julie wants the same thing.

And then there’s Coach Taylor, whom I adore and would never doubt his love for his family, but a man who would probably benefit from tuning in a bit more with his wife and teenage daughter and a bit less with the boys on the gridiron. This week the Coach, in his new role as Athletic Director,  enlists Riggins’ help in overseeing non-football related sports activites…huh…there are other sports besides football in Dillion?  Who knew?  Also,  on Friday night, feeling the pressure from Buddy, the Coach opts to put Santiago into a game when the team is struggling.  Lo and behold Santiago steps it up and makes a crucial play.  We don’t know much about this brooding soul other than he seems to be turning his life around.  The cynic in me thinks that the generosity of Lyla, the Coach and Buddy Garrity will come back to bite them in the ass, but here’s to giving Santiago the benefit of the doubt.

Let’s see what’s happening with the rest of the Dillon Panther team, shall we?  Matt Saracen is learning how to make Mole and sweet, sweet love with Carlotta (um, how old is she supposed to be because she looks a LOT older than him). Smash is giving Matty advice on women.  Yes, Matt – take advice from the walking and talking STD.  Ugh, I’m not a fan of Smash this season at all!! Ex-QB1, Jason Street, has found himself a new lady love. Since Bionic Woman is gone for the season (and hopefully forever), Herc returns (again hopefully forever) to turn his buddy on to a dating website where the women all dig the boys with the wheels…no, not motorcycles – wheelchairs.  Jason feigns that he’s not interested until he spies a pic of a girl who just happens to look a lot like Lyla Garrity.  The two meet for dinner and things seem to be going ok, well until she drops into the conversation that she has a ‘pee’ fetish.  So a thing for ‘pee’ and a thing for guys with wheelchairs? This is all a little too much for Street who enlists the help of his waitress to ditch his date.  In a very predictable turn of events, Street ends up smooching (and spending the night with) said waitress.  When he returns home the next morning, he informs his parents that he’s moving in with Herc, which he does about two and a half minutes later.

Also moving out of his place of residence is Riggins.  Crystal meth creepy Ferret Guy was being creepy all kinds of creepy this episode, but Riggins finally had enough he he woke up with a shotgun to his head in an apparent joke.  Riggins took off and got some much needed shut eye in his truck, which he just happened to park in front of the Taylor’s home.  The next morning, in a reticent exchange (on the FNL does so well so often), the Coach offers Riggins a sleeping bag and the Taylor’s garage.  This is when I get all excited thinking about the possible Tim/Julie hookup but then I realize I’ve been sadly spoiled and have heard that (SPOILER ALERT – Tim and Tami’s annoying sister are going to get it on – END SPOILER ALERT). Big ‘ol kudos to Taylor Kitsch for bringing such vulnerability and quiet strength to the role of Tim this season.  No denying he’s a pretty boy to look at but he’s got the acting chops to back it all up.

And that brings us full circle…back to the MAN this season – Mr. Landry Clarke.  After what has been FNL’s most controversial storyline to date, Landry confesses to the police that he killed Tyra’s attacker.  Not doing himself any favors, Landry’s guilt has him hellbent on being punished for his actions, not realizing that admitting that he was trying to save Tyra could help out his case.  Landry wants nothing more than to purge this action from his existence but the look in his eye shows that he’s a changed man forever.  Once again Jesse Plemmons (Landry) and Adrianne Palicki (Tyra) share some emotionally draining yet brilliant scenes as they try to come to terms with what they did that fateful night.  These two are forever linked and share an unparalleled bond but is there anything more than that between them.  Landry is blindly in love with Tyra, and I wish nothing more than for Tyra to be in love with Landry, but I don’t know if she knows the difference between a man taking care of her and true love. After Tyra convinces Landry that he saved her life by killing her attacker, he decides to work with the police to save himself.  And in the end, Landry shows up at Tyra’s door and reveals that all charges have been dropped – they are off the hook.  Hmm, WAY too convenient if you ask me, but if it means the end of the murder storyline, I’ll take it.

I know you all don’t watch FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS but trust me when I tell you that if Jesse Plemmons doesn’t get a nod for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Landry on FNL there is something fatally flawed with the Emmy process.  Well, ok I guess we already know that there’s something wrong with the Emmy process, but still – it needs to be said.  What Plemmons is doing in this role, with this material this season is beyond what the other actors who have been nominated in the Best Supporting category have done over the past few years.  He’s absolutely amazing and there isn’t a false moment with him.  Then again, there’s hardly ever a false moment with FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS now is there?

So there you go…my two cents on this past week’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.  I’m happy to report that FNL is ahead of the curve when it comes to new episodes, so although this was the last episode of 2007, we will be seeing more of the residents of Dillon when the new year returns.