Friday Night Lights - Full Hearts

The 10 minutes of Julie and Saracen's date was probably the best 10 minutes of Friday Night Lights so far, and that is saying a lot for this terrific show. We went from nervewracking and funny as Coach notices Saracen's "Members Only" jacket, to his quick rebuttal of Julie's sexy red dress, to Tami lovingly and quickly convincing Julie to change. Coach's joke about offering beer to the sweet but gullible Saracen was played pitch perfectly.

We move onto the movie theatre where Eragon (nicely plugged if a little mistimed by a week!?!) is sold out, forcing Saracen attempt to pull out his football quarterback status to get special privleges. Julie sees the ugly side even though Saracen fails miserably, but Landry calls and needs help with Saracen's grandmother.

Back at the house, Saracen must convince his grandmother to come out of hiding by pretending to be his grandfather and singing her a song which we know convinces Julie that he is in fact, a keeper, but he thinks is another dweebish thing that will lose Julie. Which as the picture above shows, he doesn't (well, kinda) when he kisses her after the winning game later in the week.
There's also the reprecussions of the fallout between Tim Riggins and Jason Street, as the rest of the football team backs Street, vandalizing Tim's truck as a warning sign. Lyla doesn't get off much better as rumours abound of her philandering but is comforted by father Buddy Garrity. Jason rips off Lyla's pictures off his hospital wall before Kyra comes along to drown their sorrows as the cuckhold's in a bottle of booze.

Smash defends his dead father against his mother and family, as they return to the their original town for the big game. While Smash's mother moved to Dillon for a better life, Smash is angry at the disrespect toward their father despite the hints that he wasn't the saint Smash makes him out to be. The visit to their old time makes Smash realise the hopes he was given by his mother upon moving to Dillon as many of his friends languish in troubled fates.

Another great episode that slowly rounds out Kyra, Smash and Buddy Garrity's (Lyla's father) characters. Tami and Coach have more little fumbles and successes as parents, while Tami also gets to shine with her hospitality by winning the hearts of the rival town's hosts. Julie and Saracen finally move forward with this relationship, despite Julie walking away from the kiss awkwardly, and Tim and Lyla are basically ostrized from their schoolmates, though Tim's toughening out on the field wins him back points.