Friday Night Lights Review: Two to Go

The twists never stop coming in East Dillon, Texas. This week Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and Tami (Connie Britton) consider a new plan of action, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) tries to adapt to his new circumstances and Vince (Michael B. Jordan) watches his dad (Cress Williams) spiral out of control.

As Eric receives some troubling news from Principal Burnwell, Tami sets off for a job interview that could be the opportunity they need. Coach Taylor’s been working with his staff to trim the budget from every angle but is shocked to learn that the school board’s decided East and West Dillon should share a football program.

Coach keeps the news to himself as the team prepares for this week’s game. I’ve finally developed a gripe with this show. How many times can the Dillon School Board find a way to screw over Eric Taylor for no reason? He does nothing but win awards, bring prestige to the school, keep kids out of jail, and turn down better offers. Yet something tells me they’ll still invent a reason East Dillon needs to merge with West rather than the other way around, leaving Coach out of a job.

Meanwhile, Tami’s being recruited for an Associate Dean of Admissions position at a prestigious university. She sets out at her interview to try and win over the current Dean, whom she’d be working for, but she appears to lose him when she questions the ability of standardized testing to pinpoint the well-rounded applicant. She’s not surprised later when she’s told she’s not being offered the Associate position, but is a little shocked when she hears she’ll be getting an offer to replace the current Dean.

Maybe the Taylors aren’t in such a hard pinch anymore? I wonder how Julie would feel about this potential move and how far it would place her from her family? On one hand, it’s nice to see Tami get a chance to move forward. She did get her shot at principal, but it seems like all the big decisions still focus around her husband’s career. Ultimately I think Tami will be happy to help out students anywhere.

Vince’s life is starting to take a downturn since the college recruiting highs have ended. He starts the episode listening to his dad complaining about wanting a drink and later, while he and his mother have dinner, he learns his drunken father is potentially selling and/or using again as well. His mother changes the locks on their house in a chilling scene where they both tell Ornette to find somewhere else to live. Later, Vince’s mother admits she can’t come to his game because she needs to take a meeting. They’re reunited when he returns and gets off the bus, finding her in the crowd. I hope this is the end of the trauma for these two, who’ve worked through so much already to get where they are.

Tim Riggins isn’t feeling so good about how things are now that he’s out of jail. He disapproves of Billy (Derek Phillips) and Luke (Matt Lauria) both complacently letting underage Becky (Madison Burge) work at the Landing Strip, even just as a waitress. He gets into a fight with one of the patrons when he puts his hands on Becky. He decides to move back to the trailer on the land he purchased before he was arrested, hopefully finding a bit of solace in the solitude. All the tension between Tim and Becky doesn’t sit well with Luke, who brushes her off as he heads to the game.

A shining moment of optimism amidst all the downtrodden events this week was Jess (Jurnee Smollett) asking Coach to mentor her. She wants to shadow him because she one day hopes to coach herself. We all saw this coming, her love of the game, helping first Vince and then Luke, yet not being cut out for the rally girl lifestyle. It took Coach a little longer than expected to accept, but he lays realistic ground for her, letting her know just how many female coaches there are out there. This is a relationship I wish we had more time to explore, just one more year even. Tami would be proud of the way Eric is taking on a mentee.

At least the team pulled out a win this week, so there’s more football drama to go in the last two episodes of the series. Could East Dillon be on its way to the state championship? Will that keep the Taylors in Texas? How will the merging of the football programs go? Guess we’ll all have to stay tuned the next two weeks to get our answers.

Season 5, Episode 11 “The March” (original airdate July 1, 2011)

Friday Night Lights airs Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.

Images courtesy of Bill Records and NBC.