“Pantherama!”
November 16th, 2007
Jason Katims and the writing staff of Friday Night Lights have been getting a lot of flack recently due to a single storyline dragging down what could be the best drama on television. Landry’s justified homicide, an act of self-defence, has sat over the series like a cloud, and critics have piled doubt onto the show’s ability to escape this concern. And yet, each week there has been an element that reminded us of why we loved this show: as long as the murder story was just one story, we could look past it.
If we follow that pattern, this week’s episode of Friday Night Lights should be the best of the season: a single conversation about his father’s action is the only storyline Landry gets this week, and the murder is pretty well shelved for the time being. And yet, as opposed to being one of the season’s best episodes, it was actually perhaps one of its worst. Proving that murder is not the only problem in Dillon, Texas, the series focused on storylines which were cliched, predictable and uninteresting, and the good (for once) did not outweigh the bad. And, this time, we can’t blame the murder.
I don’t know if we should place blame on NBC for trying to sex up the show, but it seems like a logical place to start when it comes to Matt Saracen’s tryst with his grandmother’s sexy latina nurse. The storyline has been wholly unsubtle from the very beginning, and this week’s sudden return to the storyline felt just as unnatural as it did when she massaged him a few weeks back. The storyline just doesn’t make any sense, and doesn’t help Matt get any direction in the least: his cheerleader girlfriend definitely swindled him on that car deal (I can’t see any other reason we were shown it), but Matt turning to the sexy nurse for support rings false.
And yet Matt is not the only one entering into an ill-advised relationship: Julie, fighting back her feelings for Matt, decides to flirt with her English teacher (Who is played by “John” from John from Cincinnati). I like Julie joining the paper, as her story on the panthers created tension with her father, and helped heal some of her anti-cheerleader/anti-football wounds. However, couldn’t she have joined the paper without entering into a potentially dangerous friendship with its editor? I’d usually assume the show was too good to go down that route, but considering that Noah is being introduced in an identical fashion to the nurse and NBC’s mid-episode promo made it clear that we’re supposed to make that assumption I worry.
The problem with the rest of the episode was that it didn’t do anything to keep me from worrying. On the good side of the coin, I liked seeing more of Mama Smash as her son entered into the recruiting process. There’s some good drama to mine there, and the storyline clicked for me. Also, the strip tease and Tyra/Lyla’s recruitment skills provided a light-hearted break in the episode; it was a little simplistic, but Tami’s reaction to the entertainment was worth it.
On the other hand, the rest of the episode’s storylines lack forward momentum. Santiago is personality-less, and as long as he monotones his way through his scenes I do not feel the sympathy required to make this arc work. I don’t even think Tim Riggins has an arc: he leaves his house over Billy dating their neighbour friend, sleeps on Tyra’s couch, and then goes to work for a pot-bellied ferret owner…for what reason? We spent a lot of time with Tim but gained no further direction on what the show plans on doing with him.
Or anyone, for that matter: without the central “Dillon Panthers are going to State, etc.” construct, it feels like these characters are just being bounced between stereotypical storylines until they have to have a big football game. It’s not just the murder: Friday Night Lights is out of bounds in more ways than one.
Cultural Observations
- Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler are really trying their best to keep this show afloat; Britton was great forcing Tyra/Lyla to volunteer, and it was great to see Chandler get some screentime with Smash.
- Speaking of Smash, he really needs to get off his high horse considering he has a lingering steroids scandal that could emerge at any moment. He really better think about academics, in other words.
- A lack of Jason Street this week, which is always frustrating with ensemble dramas. He had a lot of momentum after last week, and now he just disappears?
- Jessalyn Gilsig was barely in the episode, which I like: it was good for Tami’s storyline not to be dependent on Gracie, as someone was always taking care of her. Hopefully she sticks around a little while longer.
- My favourite little detail in the episode was Julie’s journalism skill of asking her father for a comment on her story while he was sitting on the toilet. Smart thinking, Julie. Now use more of it and don’t flirt with your teacher.
- Columbia Journalism followed by Dillon High School? Harsh. Methinks there might be some skeletons in the closet.
Cultural Learnings 