Having a self-imposed ban against talking about the Julie Taylor storyline on Friday Night Lights makes this episode fairly hard to discuss. Outside of the prodigal daughter’s super-special-not-much-of-a-secret finally revealed to her family, you had interesting happenings in the Howard household, and the implosion of Luke is prevented by the intervention of Billy and Mindy of all people. At least things are going well on the gridiron, because all around the field, lives are unraveling.
Since I won’t talk about Julie (Other than to say that the girl needs to own her mistakes, and go back and live through the hell that will be waiting for when she returns to college), I am left with her parents’ reaction; more specifically the always outstanding work by Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor. I can only imagine the torment a father would experience in this situation. On one hand he still sees innocent baby girl, probably the same way he sees little Gracie. His child and his family, which simply wants to protect. Then, he’s got to deal with the disappointment that Julie herself mentions. While the eldest daughter has been far from perfect in the four plus years we’ve known her, she has generally given her parents reason to be proud, a claim, at least in this regard, she can no longer make.
Finally, though, a parent is a teacher. As much as Eric is emotionally involved with the “whys” of Julie’s situation, he also believes that the only true way that she’ll be able to course correct from this is to finding a way to live with her mistake back at school, where she will be forced to live with it in the open. While he never took the opportunity to explain his point of view, I am sure that, put simply, it is that “if you start running away from your problems now, it is a habit that will be hard to break.”
Who would have thought that the Riggins family, both husband and wife, would have become a near-reasonable resource for the teens of East Dillon High? Billy’s coaching, as they say, has always been full of piss and vinegar, but his locker room speech proved not only to himself, but to the rest of the team and coaching staff, that he can find a way to translate his passion for the game of football in a way that allows him to connect to the players. And Mindy the matchmaker….? I am surprised at how much I enjoy the dynamic between her and Becky; that is as long as that long glance at Mindy’s tips isn’t the beginning of a storyline that ends with Becky on stage at the Landing Strip.
I’m not sure where this storyline with Vince and his father is going. One week, it has all of the roadsigns of being a story of how Ornette is dragged back into his past life, to the determent of his family. The following week, the impression is that he might be a wrench in the works that is his son’s recruitment. This week, he does the “right” thing and protects his family, even if we all know his actions will most certainly be back to haunt Vince and his family.
As much as I liked him tonight, anyone that thinks that Billy Riggins is a good substitute for the awesomeness that is his younger brother must be watching a different television show than I am. Derek Philips is great, don’t get me wrong; but to say that I’m looking forward to the return of Tim, and all of the other Dillion and East Dillion folks we’ve heard about might just be the understatement of the year.
What do you think?
Notes & Quotes
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Dec 09, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
