Friday Night Lights: Episode "Thanksgiving" Recap

Tough day for the Hoyas, but at least there's always TV. 

SPOILER ALERT for Friday Night Lights episode “Thanksgiving”

I liked the plotline grading system established last week, so I’ll stick with that system for the season finale:

And God gave us football… A-: After several weeks of football-lessness, we got a genuine game.  Dillon Panthers vs. East Dillon Lions was touted as a classic rivalry by the mayor, even though the Lions have been in shambles for decades.  Despite the disparity between the teams, the tension build-up was great and the game lived up to its billing.  The Panthers star quarterback, J.D. McCoy, (or his stunt double in full gear,) had a stellar first half, engineering three touchdown drives.  In the second half, he managed a field goal drive and at least 3 hissy fits.  His offensive line collapsed, so he had plenty of excuses to break down.
Vince had a solid game throughout as he grew into his team-leader role both on and off the field.  In the first half, he ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown to an offensive lineman, and then ran for a two-point conversion.  Down 21-14 at the half, Coach turned to an injured Luke, (hip flexor,) who delivered with a touchdown reception from Vince and a 2 point conversion rushing.  Sure, Luke was hurt even worse as the game continued, but the pair of Luke and Vince set up a last chance 45-yard field goal for Landry.  After missing an extra point early and losing Coach’s trust, Lance got his redemption and won the game for the Lions with a final score of 25-24.  Forget realism, this is show business.  We got to see the town’s allegiance shift from the spoiled titans of Dillon to the scrappy underdog of East Dillon. Last second comebacks, redemption, and bruising hits… this is the best of show-business football.

No apologies… B-: Tami Taylor made a last second decision not to apologize for her role in the teen pregnancy abortion scandal, which put her job in jeopardy.  During trying financial times, most people would have opted to apologize to keep a job, even if there was no wrongdoing.  But now that I think about it- I seldom hear strong women apologize, even when they are wrong… so, it makes sense that she would take a demotion rather than apologize unnecessarily.  Rather than accepting 6 months of administrative leave or fighting a forced-leave, she voluntarily took a job as a counselor in East Dillon.  I’m not sure whether that would appease the heavily religious community that worried she could influence girls to opt for abortions, but it might be enough for the show to move forward.

The return of the Matt… C+: Let me be clear; Matt Saracen is my favorite character on the show.  But, if I was writing this analysis when he left abruptly earlier in the year, I might have given it an “F.”  His sudden return was somehow even stranger, as he just shows up and doesn’t expect people to be mad at him.  This was his LeBron James moment.  I continue rooting for the guy and was really hoping his relationship with Julie would turn into a neo-Coach+Tami situation, but that seems less likely now that they are both suddenly ambitious. In this episode, he was officially dumped by Julie, but at least he got his snarky best friend Landry back.

Riggins takes the fall… B+: The plotline of brother taking the blame for brother got to me, even as both brothers took turns overacting/underacting.  Overall, it was done pretty well, but the show would be ridiculous if Riggins goes to jail for over a year.  By the way, as a legal side note… it generally helps everyone if one person takes the fall for a crime because prosecutors don’t spread years out among different defendants to diffuse the blame.  On the contrary, more people = grander conspiracy, which means more time in jail for everyone.  But to be fair, Texas law may differ from my experience.

Vince-Jess-Landry… B-: It felt like this was going to be a great plotline throughout the season, but it ended with a thump when Jess told Landry she had feelings for Vince.  Vince and Jess have great chemistry and that played that out with a nice Thanksgiving moment as they visited Vince’s posh recovering-crack-addict mother.  But the story between Landry and Vince seems far from over... even though the season is over.

Thanksgiving episode overall… B+:  Most of the Thanksgiving stuff was awkward, but that’s normal for Thanksgiving gatherings.  More importantly, we got football.

Overall, the season gets a B+ with some good stories and some not so good ones, but as always, great characters.  What do you think?