Friday Night Lights - Rain and Waterworks

Mud Bowl

HOLY CRAP...

I'm STILL TREMBLING. My heart is still pounding... HOLY CRAP.

Okay. Probably nowhere near the shock of Battlestar Galactica earlier this week (DON'T TELL ME) but damn my mouth is on the floor and my eyes are totally watering...

All the more shocking because of the realistic portrayal, plus "the incident" happens just as the Dillon Panthers is winning their semi-finals game.

And I thought the tear moment of the episodes was going to be when Jason Street snaps back at the lawyers and decides to clear the issues once and for all, demanding for his own reasonable payout, and letting Eric Taylor free.

Smash's concern for Waverly's bi-polar disorder forces him to tell Lyla, who has befriended Waverly, after Lyla informs him of their trip to the firing range. Waverly is pissed of course, but Smash retorts back in a fit and rage of love and concern, and makes Smash's slow revolution towards redemption as an emotive man all the more powerful. Gaius Charles who plays Smash, has amazingly portrayed Smash with a fine balance of jock jerk and the real internal turmoil every human being has, that has fully rounded a usually stock caricature.

Lyla grows a spine and has her own fit of rage against Jason Street, who has turned to feeling sorry for himself now that everything has hit rock bottom. I knew Lyla Garrity had it in her! Speaking of Garrity, Buddy Garrity HAS become one of the funniest characters on television (as another fellow blogger noted).

A toxic accident renders the Dillon Panthers field useless, and Eric Taylor refuses to let the home game advantage go down the tubes by playing in the rivals swanky stadium. The coach passes a field (full of cows) for lease, and an idea sparks. Now this is when I would usually groan and roll my eyes, but this wondrous moment is made all the more realistic and compelling when Tami joins Eric to evaluate the situation. How great was it that she would think about where all the people would pee? That's realism for you!

The game eventually happens on the field, meanwhile, elsewhere, Tyra gets some math tutoring from Landry. They make a date for Friday night for some extra studying, and Landry finally has his chance to profess his love, until his car stalls, just as it starts raining. Meanwhile, Tyra waits at the diner but when she decides to leave, a fellow diner grabs her and starts raping her in his truck in one of the most shocking scenes, more so because of the casualness of the horrific incident, all while the football continues in the rain on the other side of town and as the Panthers go on to winning victory. Tyra fights back in a brutal battle with the rapist and escapes. Landry finally shows up to find a shattered Tyra, and this is when my eyes start watering AGAIN.


Back on the field, after Jason's mentoring of Saracen goes well, Coach Taylor notices the improvement. Eric asks Jason if he has ever considered coaching, and the hope fills back up in Jason Street's eyes. Okay. Let the watering eyes begin again.

I'm EXHAUSTED and ELATED and OVERJOYED and HORRIFIED. And I didn't even get into the envelope full of cash for Matt Saracen, or the love professed by Julie.

DANGIT. I said it now and I'm going to say it again until you are all watching this show! THIS IS THE BEST SHOW CURRENTLY ON TELEVISION and this may be one of the BEST SHOWS OF ALL TIME!