Friday Night Lights: I Knew You When (Episode 301)

photo credit: scott mcdermott

*SQUEAL*

Can you believe we got a third season of this wonderful show?!? What tipped the scales? Was it the mini-footballs inscribed with "CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN'T LOSE" that we rained down on NBC HQ? Was it the quad rugby-inspired stressballs? Or could it have been my sending all 100,000+ words of both seasons' worth of recaps to Jeff Zucker and Ben Silverman? Okay, it was probably that deal NBC made with DIRECTV, but still -- it's a gift, and I'm thankful for it.

"THE LONG DRY SEASON IS OVER" -- Ain't that the truth, Slammin' Sammy. Our Exposition Fairy Of The Airwaves catches us up on a few tidbits of info, like the fact that Smash blew out his knee in last year's playoffs (just like the Permian Panthers' Boobie Miles in the original Friday Night Lights. Tension and temperatures are running high on the practice field as Tim Riggins moves into Smash's tailback position (there's a filthy joke in there about Tim Riggins and tail -- consider it said) and a frosh phenom named JD McCoy (an obvious homage to the current UT QB, Fiesta Bowl Champion Colt McCoy) arrives on the scene to upset Matt Saracen's apple cart. For most of the episode, JD is just another player in a helmet; he could be any Panther. JD comes complete with a dad who gives Buddy Garrity a run for his money in the over-involvement department. The "Stud of Suds," who made his money on a string of Laundromats distributing beer, wants to pony up the funds for a Jumbotron for Herrmann Field, with the apparent goal of buying his son more playing time per high definition pixel. He even buys the whole team smoothies on a particularly hot practice day, a transgression so egregious it causes Eric Taylor to lose his shit in a big old way. Over smoothies! Hee! Suds shows up at the coach's office with scotch and cigars and apologizes for the smoothie maneuverie. He's slick, that Suds, and Eric knows it. Suds describes Matt Saracen as "an average talent" and says only a great coach like Eric could have won State with him. It's not that Suds is wrong, exactly, but I sure don't like the way he talks about my Matty. Then Suds says, "My boy JD, he's the real deal. He's a great quarterback, and I want him mentored by a great coach. And that's why I moved my family to Dillon, Texas." When Eric asks if he really moved from Dallas for the Panther football team, Suds says, "For you, sir. For you." *gulp* No pressure there, Coach! Suds says, "You're looking at the next Jason Street. You've got the next franchise sitting right under your nose; all you have to do is sniff."

Whoa. Maybe he's just doing his best for his kid; maybe he's trying to relive some long lost youth, I don't know, but the only thing I'm sniffing off Suds is smarm and an air of entitlement that's not sitting real well with me or Coach T. Still, when the opening game of the season racks up a 38-13 Panther lead in the second half thanks to awesome plays by both Tim and Matt, Coach T pulls his first string and sends in JD. As Matt watches from the sidelines with his grandma standing just in view in the stands over his shoulder, JD throws up a beauty of a spiral, a long, sweet throw that looks…well, as Slammin' Sammy puts it, "It's Jason Street reincarnated." *double gulp* As JD runs off the field, he pulls off his helmet, and we get our first glimpse of his face -- he's a good looking kid, with a wide smile and floppy hair. He looks like the lovechild of Tim Riggins and Jason Street. He even bears a slight resemblance to his cousin Colt. And now it's Matt whose face is hidden behind the helmet, and JD who's out there for all of Dillon to see. Matt (and Grandma) know they're watching the future, and it hurts. GOD, I love this show.

Buddy hosts a post-game party at the Chevy dealership, where he shows a video of Panther football through the years, including pictures of himself as a player, all the championship teams, and highlight reels of both Jason and Smash, neither of whom is in attendance at the party to see the accolades. We don't get to see Jason at all this episode, but what's Smash been up to? Well, he's working as a manager at the Alamo Freeze. See, after he blew his knee out, he lost his college scholarship. Even after getting the all clear from the doctor, he's still half a second slower than he used to be, and he's convinced no school will want him. I'm not sure why he couldn't have been red-shirted and done his rehab at college, but I'm so glad to see him, I'm willing to forgive what feels like a lazy plot detail. Hell, they could show him giving lap dances at The Landing Strip and it still couldn't come close to last season's Massive Fuckup, so no complaints here. Coach T spends some of his precious downtime doing his own training with Smash off hours, but Smash finally tells him he needs to give up that dream. After seeing the highlights reel at the post-game party, Coach Taylor tracks Smash down at the Alamo Freeze as he's closing up for the night and takes him for a round of "the whitest sport in history" -- racquetball -- where the coach gets all winded and sweaty and Smash shows us that the knee really is fine. Coach Taylor tells him, "We can figure it out. If you want this, I will help you get it." Smash asks why it means so much to him, and Eric says, "I need something good to happen." AWWWWW! *sniff* "If you want this, it's waiting for you," Eric says. "I can't want it for you." Such a good coach. Such a good guy. I've missed them all SO MUCH!

"I COULD NEVER BE MAD AT MY WIFE…IT'S THAT DAMN PRINCIPAL" -- While Eric battles the Suds of the world and listens to Dillionites gripe about every choice he makes on the field and off, Tami Taylor has her own new set of problems: she's been promoted to principal. In sharp contrast to the largesse the football program receives (new computers, working air conditioning, a check with a lot of zeros for that Jumbotron), the academic program Tami inherits is lacking the most basic requirements, like teachers and textbooks. Though Buddy gives her a hard sell, she goes to the school board and learns that she has the final say in how funds will be allocated, and she diverts the Jumbotron funds into academics. That should go over well! If she thinks Buddy Garrity's pissed, wait until Suds McCoy finds out that his pay-for-play ended up off the field and in the classroom.

Things aren't much better on the home front, since Julie "The World Revolves Around Me" Taylor is still up to her pretty little neck in adolescent angst. This time, she wants her own car, and to get it, she plans to rearrange her schedule so she can get a job after school. She manipulates her father into signing a schedule change form that puts her in an AP Lit class with an inferior teacher. Ah, but wait! Since Tami's now the Head Honcha, she uses her principalian power to put the kibosh on Julie's plan, and gives Eric an earful about signing the damn form in the first place. Oy. At least Baby Bug doesn't seem to be causing any drama yet, probably because she's still not walking and talking. Give her time. I'm sure she'll be just as much of a pain in the ass as her big sister eventually.

"I'VE GOT TO BE MORE REALISTIC" -- Smash isn't the only one trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life: Trouble's got her own worries. It seems the 1.9 GPA she earned her freshman year (which, if we're going by Dillon Time, would be the year she was dating Tim Riggins -- a coincidence? I think not!) has negated the gains she's made under Landry's tutelage. She's netted herself a 2.6 GPA -- not good enough for UT-Austin, TMU, or any other decent school. The vice principal's very dismissive of her, telling her it's time to think along the lines of Dillon Tech. What Trouble hears is, "YOU'LL NEVER LEAVE DILLON." The sudden engagement of her sister to Billy Riggins (after dating for only five weeks!) just hammers the point home. Trouble goes to Tami and says of the happy couple, "They're gonna have a kid, get divorced, and Mindy's gonna spend the rest of her life going after Billy for child support." She wants more, she wants better -- she wants to go to a real college. Tami promises to help, and Trouble sasses to the vice principal that he'd better never tell her she can't go to college again because she's SO gonna. So there. And she's running for student council president, to boot. Oh, and Trouble and Landry are either broken up or taking a break, depending on who you ask. If you couldn't figure out which is which, think about the look on Trouble's face when her mama assures her that there's a man in Dillon for her. Hey, you could do a lot worse than Landry Clarke, toots. At least we know he'll probably get into a decent college!

"SHE WENT TO BED WITH JESUS AND WOKE UP WITH YOU" -- Okay, you know I saved the best for last, right? I mean, yes, the football stuff brought a lump to my throat, and seeing Eric and Tami being Eric and Tami brought a tear to my eye, but my reaction hits home considerably lower when it comes to seeing Tim Riggins brought to life again on my television screen. Have you seen the  trailer for Wolverine? With Taylor Kitsch playing Gambit? I've heard reports of spontaneous orgasms from all over the globe at the mere sight of him in that rakish hat with that smartass grin. My dear friend Malkin predicts that once Wolverine comes out, TK will no longer be our dirty little secret. I say we just act all knowing and superior, since we've known all along what the man can do.

The big news for my boy Timmy is that he's been having "great sex" for six weeks with Miss Lyla Garrity. \o/ It's my OTP! Two-thirds of my OT3! And we get Kitschnipple, to boot! It's a very good day in the Ranhome. So Tim and Lyla have been doing it on downlow…no, that's not a sexual position, though given his age, experience and stamina, and their chemistry, it wouldn't surprise me if they found new ways to hooch the kooch. Tim complains to Billy one night at The Landing Strip that once school started, Lyla did a real 180 on him after six weeks of "great sex, great everything." It's a patented Riggins interaction, with Tim facing the room and Billy facing the other direction two stools over. Brolove! Billy says he needs to stop screwing around and find the love of a good woman, like he has with Mindy (who's giving a fatass trucker a lapdance at that exact moment). He shouts that he loves her, and she responds in kind, leading Billy to say, "See? That's public. That's love." Aww! And hee! Billy says Tim was Lyla's rebound from Jesus. "You're a summer fling, Tim," he says. "I don't believe that," Tim says. We've seen some evidence earlier that Tim hasn't exactly seen the error of his ways -- we get glimpses of him (shirtless! just had to add that!) boozing it up, hanging out with girls, and puking his guts out. And that's probably all before practice! After dancing around a little at school with Lyla, she comes up to him while he's talking to a rally girl and tells her to step off. Then she says to Tim, "You scare me. You show up drunk at school, you have rally girls do your homework, your relationships last about twenty minutes. How am I supposed to take you seriously when you don't take yourself seriously?"

At the post-game party (a game in which Tim excelled, even though he'd worried about filling Smash's tailback shoes), Tim comes up to Lyla and says he wants to tell her two things. First, he thanks her for kicking his ass in gear, saying he owes his good performance to her. Then he says it's okay with him if she doesn't want to tell anyone about them. If it's working for her, it's fine with him. Aww! You'll note that neither of them ever talked about stopping. He starts to walk away, but she stops him, walks over, takes his face in her hands and KISSES him, right there in front of her daddy, their friends, Mayor Lucy, and all of Dillon. YES! It's about damn time. WHEE!!!!! Okay, maybe I shouldn't get so invested in a high school love affair, but think how far they've come: remember them by the side of the road that night in the first season, with Lyla screaming at Tim and pounding his chest with her little fists, and them grabbing on to each other and kissing like it might be the only thing that could save them? Yeah, me, too. *sigh* I know she's good for him; I hope he will be good for her.

Recapper's Note: I'm very sad to report that Buzznet, the parent company of Recapist, has made the decision to stop paying recappers. I've thoroughly enjoyed recapping Friday Night Lights, but it's too much work to do it for free. I plan to remain part of the FNL fan community, and I appreciate all the support I've gotten from readers and fellow fans over the past two seasons. Thank you!

Here, have one last Timpic for the road:

my boy timmy