Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose

Friday Night Lights was a show that by typical tv standards should not be here.  It’s one of those shows that’s “too good to live”.  We’ve lost so many great shows that were nothing less than masterpieces simply because of that fact.  Friday Night Lights always was going to be one of those shows.  You could tell even the people making the show felt that way when Season One ended.  They did not expect to be back.  But back they were.  Season 2 was pretty rocky but it found it’s legs and once again became the show we loved.  Then of course it was time for it to be cancelled.  But the unimaginable happened.  DirectTV subsidized a Third season that would air first on their exclusive 101 network with longer episodes and then later in the year air on NBC as usual.  NBC of course saw this as a pretty great deal and took it and we got a Third Season that was brilliant.  So brilliant that DirectTV and NBC thought this deal should happen again with Season Four.  So here we are.  Season Four just premiered this week on DirectTV and of course any fan who knows how to use a computer isn’t waiting till it premieres on NBC to watch it.

When we last left the town of Dillon, TX our beloved coach Taylor had been fired from his job as the coach of the Dillon Panthers and assigned to the old East Dillon HS, which the town was re-opening after doing a redistricting.  This place is a mess and the coach has a lot of work to do.  But more than that the town itself is in turmoil.  The redistricting is effecting a lot of people.  No one wants their kids sent to the bad part of town.  Speaking of which, isn’t Dillon like barely a speck on a map? Where the hell did this whole other side of town come from?  Obviously this season is going to take on economics and race, although both topics have already been tackled by the show.  East Dillon is the poor, ethnic side of town.  And we’re constantly reminded of it.

The first thing that really hit me about this episode were the new opening credits.  There’s still some of the same images, and thankfully the same Explosions In The Sky theme, but now there’s a lot of new stuff showing new characters, who we don’t even know yet.  There’s a lot of new names in the credits and it is clear that we as an audience are going to have some adjustments to make along with the characters.  I do give the show credit though, it’s trying to be as realistic as it can be without losing too many beloved cast members.  But unfortunately that means they do have to sacrifice people.  These kids graduate and move on.  Or they don’t.

Matt Saracen’s journey has always been one of the more compelling on the show.  From his love of Julie, the coach’s daughter, to his becoming QB1, to his family situation.  He is one of the backbones of the show.  And now he’s delivering pizzas instead of attending art school just so he can take care of his grandma.  Almost every second he’s on screen this entire episode you want to cry.  The same goes for Tim Riggins who is totally lost now that football is gone.  He apparently could not deal with college and when he walks out of the classroom you can’t help but feel the loss of what could have possibly been a real future.  Again you just want to cry.

Same goes for pretty much all the Taylor family.  Julie is dealing with her boyfriend being the pizza guy and all her friends having either graduated or been shipped off to East Dillon while she remains in Panther country.  Tami is having a rough time being the principal of a school that fired her husband and is actively competing with him.  And of course Eric is just trying to make this new school and new team work.  But with players that aren’t experienced or who aren’t committed and no money, not even a real field, he’s fighting an uphill battle.  Baby Grace isn’t mentioned at all in this episode.  Maybe she got abducted by aliens or something.  Once again you just wanna cry for all of them.

We are introduced to some new characters very briefly.  There’s the troubled kid stereotype.  He got in trouble with the cops so they bring him to coach Taylor to see if he can help him through football.  And of course he can run.  Then there’s a girl who’s obviously living a bit of a hard life with a mother who’s constantly bringing home one night stands, in fact that’s how we are introduced to her, after Riggins wakes up from one of those.  She’s in the opening credits so she’ll be important later.

The whole episode is painful to watch.  There’s some not so great like the bad stereotype and the constant playing up of how East Dillon is the bad part of town and is filled with all the non-white Dillon inhabitants (where did Smash live then?), but for the most part the emotional rollercoaster that is Friday Night Lights is back in full swing.  And it really comes to a head with the first game of the season.  We don’t see much of the Panthers game, but the Lions game kills your insides.  These kids are trying so hard.  I feel like I don’t want to ruin the ending of this episode for you, because if you watch this you need to live through it yourself.  Let’s just say there’s a locker room scene that’s great followed by one of the all time heart breaker endings of an episode.

This is obviously only a percentage of the first act of what looks like it could be a great season.  I cannot wait till next week.