Friday Night Lights Finale Redux
April 12, 2007 by Kath Skerry
Kyle Chandler recently said (and I’m paraphrasing here) there are two types of people – “those who love this show and those who have never seen it”. I truly believe that Friday Night Lights is the BEST drama on TV today. It’s deep, rich and complex yet at the same time it’s simplistic in its approach to storytelling. Last night was the season finale of the show, and so here’s a brief recap and a few of the most memorable moments.
Friday Night Lights Season Finale Recap…
As the Dillon Panthers (along with the whole town of Dillon) are preparing to head to Dallas for the State Championship game, Tami Taylor is preparing for a whole new life as she finds out that she’s pregnant. Matt Saracen continues to be really hurt by the coach’s decision to leave Dillon for TMU. Landry tries to play it cool when Tyra asks him to drive with her to Dallas, and tries to keep his cool when it turns into the road trip from hell after Tyra’s sister, mother, Matt’s grandmother and even Lyla Garrity join them for the ride.
Finally in Dallas the team has their press day and Coach Taylor is confronted with the rumors about his position at TMU. He reluctantly confirms that he is leaving as the players listen in. At the team dinner that night the coach announces his plans to coach at TMU and enjoys support from everyone in the room – except for his players. Later that night Tami tells Eric that she’s pregnant and they share one of those scenes which make Friday Nights Lights so special. Amazing!
The state championship game starts and with the news of the coach’s departure still in their heads the Dillon Panthers are a mess on the field. At halftime they are down by 26 points with all hope lost. Coach Taylor’s locker room speech serves its purpose and the boys come back to the field after the half with a determination to win. And that’s just what they do. The Dillon Panthers come back to win the Texas State Championship. Goooo Panthers!! Later that night Eric tells Tami that coaching at TMU isn’t his dream – being with his family is, and he’s decided to stay in Dillon. Tami refuses to let him do and tells him that he has to take the coaching job and that they’ll be fine as a family because they love each other so much. Again – amazing!
The Panthers are treated to a home town victory parade as I wipe the tears from my eyes. The coach enters the field house only to overhear Jason Street giving the team an inspired speech on how this is just the beginning and they have to work hard as a team – together- to get back here again next year. The coach enters the room and is greeted with the slow clap of appreciation from his players. I reach for another box of Kleenex as I hit “Do not delete this program” from my DVR – this one is going to be watched a few more times, that you can be sure of.
Favorite Moments…
Saracen confronting Coach Taylor in the bar about him leaving – Matt really didn’t have much to say to the coach, but his eyes expressed everything. He was angry and more importantly hurt. But if you know anything about Saracen this has less to do with the coach leaving the team, or even for him being separated from Julie, and more about him losing the only father figure he has in his life.
Tami telling Eric that she was pregnant and later telling him he had to take the job at TMU – Seriously, there’s really nothing I can say that could make you understand how amazing Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are on this show. They are so real and raw that you really do forget that it’s just a TV show. It’s beautiful. And what an interesting turn of events that it’s Tami that is now pushing him to take the position. It set up quite the cliffhanger. And a new baby?! I hope the Taylor’s somehow get Tim Riggins to babysit.
Tyra & Lyla’s confrontation – There was something oddly endearing and funny about these two girls finding a common ground due to their promiscuous ways and bad decisions. I love Tyra and can’t stand Lyla. But if Tyra is willing to give her a shot, then maybe I should.
The Panthers win state – This was actually a bit of a surprise to me. Having just seen the movie version of Friday Night Lights this past weekend, (spoiler alert) I thought for sure they would lose just as they did in the movie. A loss would have opened the door a little wider for Coach Taylor to return and get the Panthers the state championship he came to Dillon to win. But they won, so does the coach really have a reason to stay outside of his family? The answer – of course.
For those of you who didn’t see the show this year, please take the time to watch the full season on NBC.com this summer. You’ll understand why those who watch the show are so passionate about it.
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Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are absolutely amazing. I never appreciated their acting abilities until this show. The talent just oozes from each and every actor on this show.
Thanks to you, GMMR, because I hadn’t watched until the last month or two. I am completely hooked.
We loved pretty much the same scenes 🙂 And I hate Lyla and love Tyra too!
As always, I absolutely loved the episode. My fave moments were at the beginning with Tami & Smash’s mom, Julie & Matt talking in the stairwell at the hotel, the scene on the balcony with Tami & Coach T, when the team entered the locker room at Texas Stadium and saw their names on the lockers, the hug between Matt & Coach T, the whole car ride with Landry and the ladies, the parade, well… I guess pretty much everything in the episode was my favorite!
By the way, they changed the halftime speech that Coach T gave from what Mo Ryan wrote in her blog. Instead of that explaination of “Clear eyes, full hearts,” they had Coach T talk about the team having the people who will always support them in their hearts when they go back on the field with the flashes of some of their family members. I loved the original speech but I also liked how they changed it as well.
I don’t have time to write a lot, other than I love this show and I was seriously rooting for the Panthers during the game like I would for any college or NFL football game I watch. I was so happy that they won! and the finale was nothing short of Brilliant!
I don’t have much to add to what’s already been said, but I just love this show so dearly. I didn’t even manage to last until the credits before there were tears.(Tammy’s 13 yrs…12yrs…11yrs,ect. really got to me) At first I was kinda po’d that the previews last week gave away the pregnancy, but then I realized FNL isn’t about the big shock and awe to the audience(unlike most drama’s, so I think I’m conditioned to expect this), it’s about how the characters deal with it and relate to each other. Also looooved Landry and the girls in the car.
There were some relativly cliched scenes, but I really felt the writers made an honest attempt to give the fans some heartwarming moments, and made the story come full circle in the (awful) chance that this is the only season we get. So yeah, loved it. What an amazing season it’s been.
I also just watched “Friday Night Lights”, the movie, this weekend :D. I thought it was pretty boring though and nothing compared to this amazing show. I really hope, NBC is gonna give it another chance and people are gonna tune in because I would be seriously crushed if this series would end after only one season. I was really sad when the O.C. ended this year and I also cried (shame on me 😉 ) but at least the O.C. had four seasons… It would be a shame for FNL not to have at least four seasons. I really don’t understand why people don’t watch it. Everytime someone says they watched it, they loved it. I’ve never heard of anyone who didn’t… Please get people to watch it, especially those with Nielsen boxes ;-). The show is never gonna come to Germany because of the football element but I’ll pay any price to import the DVDs of this wonderful show with the most incredible cast ever…
great, great show. i love Coach’s hair. especially at half time sticking straight up. that cracks me up.
“A loss would have opened the door a little wider for Coach Taylor to return and get the Panthers the state championship he came to Dillon to win.”
Totally disagree. He’s getting ripped on the radio for leaving Dillon to go to TMU, and that’s with him winning State. If the Panthers had lost State, everyone would’ve blamed it on his TMU decision and the distractions it caused, and his house would’ve been cinders by the time he got back from Dallas.
Seth – I don’t disagree with what you are saying, but I guess I meant that the loss would have opened up Taylor emotionally to wanting to stay with the Panthers….although you may still disagree 🙂
Let me preface my following comments by saying this:
Friday Night Lights is my favourite drama on network television (Grey’s has had a very sub-par season). Its characters are more vibrant and realistic than any other show I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, and the acting is sublime. That’s the number one requirement for a drama- characters that you are invested in- because the nature of television writing requires constant plot twists (often unbelievable adversity- ie. toxic chemical trainwreck) that would seem corny if the viewer didn’t care deeply for the characters. FNL does this *so* well.
That being said, the finale was only a pretty good episode (which would still be a very good episode on any other show). They didn’t need to put the Panthers down by 26 points at the half, and then have the “Hollywood” comeback. We don’t need the added drama- just have Matt struggle, Voodoo play well, and leave the Panthers down by a more-believable 14 points (make it a 26-14 game). And I’m still a bit confused as to how many players are returning for the following year (Riggins *has* to be a senior right? Saracen is definitely a junior at best, while I think someone mentioned Smash being a junior as well), but I hope they don’t stretch plausibility by retaining everyone. And I’m anti-“Head Coach Street”, I just don’t buy into it (it could make for some good storylines, but it just doesn’t make sense).
Looking back on it, the episode had some great moments, especially between the Taylors. Saracen had some very strong moments as well, and I think complications from Smash’s injury will keep him out next year (or at least cause him to miss time, which in turn will cost him his scholarship). Actually, damnit it was a very good episode, I just expect too much from this show!
I’m not sure what year Riggins is – he might be a junior, even though I assumed he was senior along with Jason. Smash is a junior, but Matt is a sophomore like Julie.
I think the big comeback in the game was used as a metaphor for their whole season – they came back from the devestating loss of Jason to get to the state finals, just like they came back from such a big deficit at halftime to win the championship. Yes, maybe a bit too Hollywood, but that actually has happened a lot of times in real-life sports.
I loved this episode. As for the comeback deficit being a bit overdramatic — yes, this is different than what the show normally does but I thought it worked for a season finale. (It’s not a series finale, I won’t accept that, no way! We need a season 2!) Sports teams come back from that big a deficit all the time — the first that comes to mind is the infamous “Choke in Doak” where the UF Gators squandered a 28-0 lead in the 4th quarter against the FSU Seminoles, and the game ended up in a tie 28-28.
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I took your advice. Watched the whole damn season in about a week. Its ruining my schooling, but good god this is a great TV show. Thank you for promoting it so hard that I just had to watch. Connie Britton is phenomenal, and I could not love the relationship between Tami and Eric any more than I do. Season Two MUST happen.
hi everyone.
I have a question…
I’m looking for the Dillon Panthers game jersey…
do any of you know where i can get my hands on one?
http://www.nbcuniversalstore.com/index.php?v=nbunbcnowfri
Riggins game jersey is there.
Howdy! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share. Thanks!
Unbelievable. This was 7 years ago, everybody reclaimed their renovation and in 2011, they ended the show becaming one of the most important series in American TV’s history. Legendary, a dream made true…
Clear eyes, full hearts…