Friday Night Lights (2006-????)Created by: Peter Berg
Season: Two (2007-2008)
Genre: Drama | Sport
Number of Episodes: 15
Episode Running Time: 60 Minutes
Viewed: Owned DVD
Every day counts. One night matters.
[IMDb]
Comments: Warning! Some spoilers ahead!
I really believe that I could write a 20 page paper on what a clusterfuck the second season of Friday Night Lights was. From the soap opera-esque storylines to the fact that there were way too many things going on to adequately tell each story that was occurring in the show, the second season was full of missteps (the DVDs feature slightly edited down episodes from the ones that aired on DirecTV, which could account for why some of the stories don't feel completely fleshed out). First, the whole Landry kills a dude storyline was completely ridiculous. We have a character that shouldn't be anything more than a secondary performer take up almost all of the first half of the season. His whole relationship with Tyra was unbelievable and there was absolutely no chemistry between the two. The Landry character works best in small doses, and should be used more as a face for humor in the show. That's not to take away from Jesse Plemons, the actor who portrayed Landry, as he did an excellent job with what he was given. He simply lacks the charisma and chemistry to have a major storyline arc. But how awesome was it that Aaron fucking Pierce from 24 was his father?
The second issue I had was with the return of Coach Taylor to the Panthers. He's such a great character and the second-best character on the show (more on that later) that his return to the team could have been such an emotional and entertaining storyline. Instead, it's completely mishandled so that the viewer only feels awkward and weird about his return. Despite taking way too long to get him back to the team (4 episodes), the scenario was set up perfectly with the new coach being portrayed as a prick so that the team and town would rejoice at his return. Instead, the show delivers the news via a newspaper article, and no one really cares that he's come back. The team feels he abandoned them, and that's to be understood. However, a scene where he walks in unannounced to the surprise of the team could really have been a bright spot to the first half of the season, and much more uplifting to the show.
With the major misfires at the beginning of the season, as well as the minor ones (Julie's annoying bitching and complaining every goddamn episode was one), the first half of Friday Night Lights was damn near unwatchable. I knew it was bad when I saw a character starting a crappy storyline, and I all could think was that this is the best the show could come up with? There's hardly any football in the season at all, which I thought was strange considering the goddamn show was about football. I realize that the teen drama is what audiences crave, and I like that too (you are looking at a guy who purchased the first season of Gossip Girl, and owns a few seasons of The O.C.). But football is the one aspect that brings the show together. It connects everything, and usually features the best storylines of the show.
The second half of the season was much better, and returned to more of the school/football aspect side of things. The only major misstep in the second half was the whole Riggins steals $3,000 from a drug dealer to pay the mortgage. Riggins is without a doubt the best and most compelling character in the show. However it's hard to like the guy when you have him stealing money from drug dealers, for whatever reason. Luckily the storyline was quickly and quietly swept under the rug, and no one seemed to care (especially Lyla) that he did it. It's truly a shame how Riggins was misused in the season. First, he played second fiddle to Street the entire first half of the season as they took a trip to Mexico (Street is another character that was played a solid role in the first season, but without a solid storyline and no football, he was given assinine and uncompelling things to do). Then in the second part of the season, Riggins became more religious and started "being a better person" to impress Lyla and win her back. Are you serious? Riggins is the true anti-hero of Friday Night Lights. I want to see him drink like a fish, get in fights, and be the star of the show. He has the charisma and chemistry needed with all of the characters, and with the right storyline he could be the true anti-hero that everyone loves. His storyline with the single mom and son last season was great, as well as the one where he moved in with Coach Taylor and defended Julie at the party. That's the kind of shit I want to see out of the character. Drinking and threatening to beat the snot out of people. Not a guy who becomes all holy to get with Lyla.
Friday Night Lights really dropped the ball (bad pun, I know) in the second season. The show has been renewed for a fourth and fifth season, so I'm hoping that the third season, which will make it's way into my DVD player later this week, returns to the roots of the show that made it so damn entertaining in the first season. With the writers strike ending this season early, hopefully the writers came up with some fresh and interesting storylines to really engage the audience in Season 3. Hopefully.
I really believe that I could write a 20 page paper on what a clusterfuck the second season of Friday Night Lights was. From the soap opera-esque storylines to the fact that there were way too many things going on to adequately tell each story that was occurring in the show, the second season was full of missteps (the DVDs feature slightly edited down episodes from the ones that aired on DirecTV, which could account for why some of the stories don't feel completely fleshed out). First, the whole Landry kills a dude storyline was completely ridiculous. We have a character that shouldn't be anything more than a secondary performer take up almost all of the first half of the season. His whole relationship with Tyra was unbelievable and there was absolutely no chemistry between the two. The Landry character works best in small doses, and should be used more as a face for humor in the show. That's not to take away from Jesse Plemons, the actor who portrayed Landry, as he did an excellent job with what he was given. He simply lacks the charisma and chemistry to have a major storyline arc. But how awesome was it that Aaron fucking Pierce from 24 was his father?
The second issue I had was with the return of Coach Taylor to the Panthers. He's such a great character and the second-best character on the show (more on that later) that his return to the team could have been such an emotional and entertaining storyline. Instead, it's completely mishandled so that the viewer only feels awkward and weird about his return. Despite taking way too long to get him back to the team (4 episodes), the scenario was set up perfectly with the new coach being portrayed as a prick so that the team and town would rejoice at his return. Instead, the show delivers the news via a newspaper article, and no one really cares that he's come back. The team feels he abandoned them, and that's to be understood. However, a scene where he walks in unannounced to the surprise of the team could really have been a bright spot to the first half of the season, and much more uplifting to the show.
With the major misfires at the beginning of the season, as well as the minor ones (Julie's annoying bitching and complaining every goddamn episode was one), the first half of Friday Night Lights was damn near unwatchable. I knew it was bad when I saw a character starting a crappy storyline, and I all could think was that this is the best the show could come up with? There's hardly any football in the season at all, which I thought was strange considering the goddamn show was about football. I realize that the teen drama is what audiences crave, and I like that too (you are looking at a guy who purchased the first season of Gossip Girl, and owns a few seasons of The O.C.). But football is the one aspect that brings the show together. It connects everything, and usually features the best storylines of the show.
The second half of the season was much better, and returned to more of the school/football aspect side of things. The only major misstep in the second half was the whole Riggins steals $3,000 from a drug dealer to pay the mortgage. Riggins is without a doubt the best and most compelling character in the show. However it's hard to like the guy when you have him stealing money from drug dealers, for whatever reason. Luckily the storyline was quickly and quietly swept under the rug, and no one seemed to care (especially Lyla) that he did it. It's truly a shame how Riggins was misused in the season. First, he played second fiddle to Street the entire first half of the season as they took a trip to Mexico (Street is another character that was played a solid role in the first season, but without a solid storyline and no football, he was given assinine and uncompelling things to do). Then in the second part of the season, Riggins became more religious and started "being a better person" to impress Lyla and win her back. Are you serious? Riggins is the true anti-hero of Friday Night Lights. I want to see him drink like a fish, get in fights, and be the star of the show. He has the charisma and chemistry needed with all of the characters, and with the right storyline he could be the true anti-hero that everyone loves. His storyline with the single mom and son last season was great, as well as the one where he moved in with Coach Taylor and defended Julie at the party. That's the kind of shit I want to see out of the character. Drinking and threatening to beat the snot out of people. Not a guy who becomes all holy to get with Lyla.
Friday Night Lights really dropped the ball (bad pun, I know) in the second season. The show has been renewed for a fourth and fifth season, so I'm hoping that the third season, which will make it's way into my DVD player later this week, returns to the roots of the show that made it so damn entertaining in the first season. With the writers strike ending this season early, hopefully the writers came up with some fresh and interesting storylines to really engage the audience in Season 3. Hopefully.
