Septemberbaby

Thank GOD the World Series isn't on tonight!

Bluelitespecial

Well good to see the swede is gone after Julie realized how much of a loser he was, and its nice to see coach get his job back and things returning to normal with the show. We still don't know how the Tyra and Landry killing the rapist story will play out.

Septemberbaby

I loved how all of a sudden Buddy's life did a up swing... He was thisclose to getting his Panther's back on track.. Coach T is on his way home... his ex is coming to him for advice about Lyla.. and he's back in Lyla's good graces because he gave a job to her ex-con project.

Patman

Is it me, or is there a 10 year difference between Lila's mom and dad (Buddy)?

Wonder if the booted coach will show up as a coach against Dillon in the playoffs later this season (a la Voodoo). At least Coach Taylor didn't get off scot-free for his part in getting the new coach fired. Karma.

Street, Street, Street, poor guy, he's grasping at any chance to stand and walk again. Tim's probably right in calling in for Lyla's help.

Sad to see Julie get the proverbial punch in the gut (figuring out that mom was right about the Swede) after getting slapped by Tami last episode. Not sure what Eric was thinking in bringing up her dating issues while she was at the wheel, not a good idea.

Tyra and Landry are now on edge now that the body surfaced.

I don't think Lyla's rehabilitation efforts (of the juvie) will be rewarded, but Buddy had to do something.

mwbmis

That's not as bad as the ten year difference between Lyla and Julie. Especially since they supposedly go to the same HS.

SexualPudding

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this episode yet. It felt like the best episode so far as I watched it, but certain things bothered me. The storyline I expected to hate and roll my eyes at the most (Landry/Tyra "murdergate") has been handled very well so far, in my opinion. However, the current coach getting canned and Eric coming back seemed way too fast and seamless. I would have liked to see that play out for just a bit longer. I also am not a huge fan of the only actual football action taking place in the 2 minutes or so before the opening credits. I know it only served as the final nail in the coach's coffin, but this is still a football show at heart to me.

Also, as much as I understand the need to give other characters something to do, the episode came screeching to a halt for me any time Lyla or Street's stories were the focus, Lyla's especially. Her little "save a fuckup" plot seems straight out of 90210 or One Tree Hill or something to me. While I like(d) both of those shows, I have come to expect a bit more from FNL.

Ayre

I am still not feeling the show this season. The pacing is all screwed up and the writing is SOMETIMES approaching One Tree Hill. The opening theme montage is different and indicative of where the show has been, rather than slices of a community. The show has lost much of its sense of community, by separating the main cast. This show is strong when all the principals interact in the same town, crossing paths and sharing friends. Now its seems amped up to increase ratings and the result is a handful of barely connected over-the-top teen angst plotlines,

creekdipper

Right on target. I really like the show (enough to buy Season One DVD) & find a lot to recommend it. Unfortunately, this episode brought the show to the edge of jumping the shark (one leg over the fin, anyway).

Maybe Texas is different, but I can tell you from 30+ years teaching & coaching in a school system that the firing of the coach was one of the most unrealistic things I've seen lately in a drama. Fired after only two games (with a 1-1 record????). It would be unrealistic enough to have had him forced to RESIGN (which he obviously wouldn't have done), but to FIRE him? Keep in mind that all of the high schools I've ever attended or in which I've taught have found teaching jobs for the coaches, whether physics or driver's ed. Of course, many were in the P.E. department, kept study hall, taught health classes, etc. NONE were employed purely as a coach...not even the head coaches.

I didn't understand the whole "board meeting" thing with the lawyer. Seems that she made entirely valid points & that a lawsuit was virtually guaranteed. Did the coach's contract stipulate that he could be fired at any time just because the board didn't like the way he was coaching? I realize that they 'paid him off' with his year's salary (evidently poor depressed Dillon can come up with thousands of bucks to pay off the coach AND hire a new coach all in the same school year). Guess Garrity Motors is funding the team now.

Also, the "game" was the most ridiculous situation depicted so far in the series. It appeared that even Grandma up in the stands had more knowledge of football strategy than the coach. Does it make sense that the state-champion Panthers...whose fans are so crazy that they'll fire a coach after two games even at the expense of paying TWO head coach's salaries...would have hired such an incompetent coach who insists on running the same play every time even though it loses yardage every time??? The schools I've known who were fanatical about being the best and were willing to reach into their pockets to pay for it have always conducted very thorough searches & hired proven winners. They didn't just look at the coach's record...they examined his/her coaching philosophy and style. Unless the new coach (the great Chris Mulkey, wasted in this role) totally lost his mind during the game, that was the stupidest display on "coaching" you can imagine.

The resignation of Coach Taylor was handled a little better. At least the head coach at the college displayed the right amount of indignation that Coach T would quit so soon after getting his dream job ("Didn't you know your wife was pregnant when you took the job?"). I didn't blame him a bit for his "Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out" attitude. Taylor, who has preached loyalty, perseverance, character, etc., suddenly bails when the going gets tough. In order to please Tami & Julia, he didn't force his family to move when he took the job (and we all see how that's worked out). So he comes running back to Dillon saying that he has "made a mistake". I lost a lot of respect for him as the head of his family when he wimped out by splitting up the family (rather than either moving them with him or just staying at Dillon). He should have stuck it out & advised Buddy to wait until the end of the season to try to fire the new coach. Instead, he's wallowed in the mud with Buddy (of course, the writers had to make the new coach a total screwup in order to justify Eric's coming back to "save" the team).

And I won't even get started on the Tami/Julia situation. It's getting harder & harder to watch Julia every week (despite what some have posted, such abrupt character changes are not 'ordinary'...they usually are a result of involvement with drugs or heavy sexual experimentation). Julia has gone from the perfect child to uber-rebellious teenager overnight. It wouldn't surprise me if she came in with multiple piercings, shaved head, leather miniskirt, & 'sleeve' tats on her arms. I thought Tami was the school guidance counselor who stayed in Dillon because the kids "need" her. If this is the best she can do with her own daughter, perhaps the Dillon kids would be better off if she had left.

Sorry for ranting, but my wife & I both watched the episode with incredulous looks on our faces during the entire 'firing' thing. I thought the situation would go on for about half the season (maybe after the team had a 1-5 record or something) and that maybe Eric would find himself left out in the cold (how stupid was that...to quit his 'day job' solely on Buddy Garrity's say-so, without ever having a real job offer???). That would have made for some drama/conflict that would have been different.

And yes, the Street & Lyla storylines were dead weight. The karaoke scene was endless, and seeing poor Lyla struggle with the most basic religious questions at the JDC was pitiful (although it did underscore how she just jumps in with good intentions without really doing her research...which was mirrored in her 'rescue' of the parolee. Wonder why the writers made him a hottie...wouldn't it have seemed more genuine if the guy had been pockmarked, overweight, near-sighted, etc.?).

FNL has gone from being a 'must-see' to being a 'good' show to flirting with becoming 'entirely expendable'. I'm hoping they can come up with something soon (the Landry/Tyra situation looks as though it's going to be the ongoing story for the season)...I'm finding myself agreeing with Street in that Dillon is not a very pleasant place to be right now, and I'm feeling the same pangs to leave town if there's not a change...soon.

starseed1981

Anybody else think that Taylors team is now gonna lose to the old coaches new team in a state championship or playoff situation?

Septemberbaby

And on the HIGHWAY!!! OY!
He wasn't thinking... that's because he's a man. Only Mom's think ahead.
Like Tami did.. telling her to pull over and then she brought it up.

Tracer Bullet

This season is a perfect example of the internet echo chamber.

It's just as good as last season.

MrX

Watching Buddy's mind go to work while his ex was talking about Lyla's new friend was pretty funny.

I don't mind the Street story, but Riggins just kind of drifts from story to story just so they can get him on the screen it seems.

Ayre

Yeah, that must be it

dvd182

I agree, I'm really liking this year so far. Great episode tonight, though the foreshadowing on seeing the ousted coach again was a little heavy.

Buddy should've stuck with the medical irresponsiblity claims against the coach instead of being honest, but other than that I thought the episode was pretty good.

SexualPudding

It clearly seems a bit different to me so far. I think it's too early to say for sure, as we are like 4 episodes in, but we'll see. Now that Coach is back with the team, it is shit or get off the pot time for me somewhat. I have read on many occasions that there will be much less of an emphasis on the football this season, and I don't like that, frankly. I loved it last year. Not so much just the actual game footage, but the way Coach interacted with the players, be it at practice, when he took them all out in the rain and made them run hills because Smash had been running his mouth to a tv reporter, or taking Saracen to the field late at night to instill some confidence in him.

There were eye-rolling moments last season, too, like Riggins' affair with the neighbor, but it was counterbalanced by his interactions with the little kid. As I said, it is too early to judge for sure, especially since season 1 was fairly slow out of the gate. My fear is that it will become another One Tree Hill or Dawson's Creek 2.0 in an effort to win more viewers. There was something just so charming about the show in its first season, and I don't want it to lose that.

SexualPudding

Buddy "being honest" is what sent the coach packing, though.

Big Boy Laroux

I said the same thing to my wife when it happened. i'd bet money that what you've said above will happen.



um, she's (Julie, by the way) been an only child for 16 years. suddenly, she's dealing with not being the center of her parents' attention, not to mention that her dad is living hours away. I'd imagine that could put some stress on a teenage girl. And i'd hardly call going to a bar (once), staying out too late (once) and making out with an older guy "uber-rebellious". and it's not as huge of a change as you make it out to be. She showed flashes of this the first season when she started dating Saracen. Remember the "gonna have sex for the first time" episode? She was out waaaaaaaaaaaaay past curfew and had her mom worried sick.

Tracer Bullet

Exactly. There were some questionable plots in the first season, but they worked because of the superb writing and willingness to deflate cliches. What else would you call Riggins' affair, Street's paralysis, and Smash's steroid abuse? I don't see any substantive difference between those and the murder or Lyla's conversion because the writing has remained smart and sharp.

Bluelitespecial

I think its pretty easy to predict that is probably what will happen.

TheMovieman

Just like facing the star QB who left the team last season...

DrRingDing

I liked the little detail toward the end where Coach looked at the word Character and the inspirational words below it. It really drove home his guilt.

I was excited to see him talk to the Panthers again.

I have a feeling Landry's dad might end up putting two and two together, considering the look he gave Tyra when she was in the station. "Hmmm... I wonder if my son landing this incredibly unlikely hot chick has anything to do with this murder..." Or something akin.

And the foreshadowing on a return of the coach was like being hit in the face with a mack truck - yes, I mixed metaphors. So blatant that I hope the writers bring him back in a much more unlikely way (and I trust the writers to figure something good out) - maybe he gets Coach's old job at the University, or something similar.

Why was there no chatter amongst the announcer, for example, in the opening minutes about an absent Tim Riggins?

I hope Lyla's convict doesn't become a love interest, but instead becomes Buddy's best salesperson.

I said to myself at the end of the episode (probably inspired by Coach's speech) that "it's back".
-ringding-

SexualPudding

Do you really have any doubt that Lyla and convict boy will become involved at some point in the near future, even if it is short lived?

Original Desmond

lyla and julie this season are terrible

creekdipper

Sorry, didn't mean to indicate that it only started this season. I thought it was too abrupt last season, too (i.e., the Saracen episode you cited). Hanging out with druggies, lying to parents & boyfriend about her whereabouts, going out to bar (alone, by the way), screaming at her mom, and her totally disrespectful, defiant attitude at home still seem like a major change to me (from the first "Jules" that was introduced at the beginning of last season). My point was that this is not "normal" although it's often portrayed that way in Hollywood (almost a required 'rite of passage'). Her parents...whose occupations are dealing with teenagers in all of their good & bad sides...seem totally unprepared to deal with their own child.

I know that if I had indulged in the behavior you described when I was still getting my learner's permit, my parents would have considered me to be 'uber-rebellious'. How old is Julie...16 at most? Did you see the looks she was getting from the sleazy guys in the bar? Considering the dangers of sexual assault on young women (Tyra being a good example) already depicted in the show, her behavior seems pretty extreme for her age. If The Swede hadn't shown his worst side to Julie, is there any doubt that she'd already have hopped in the sack (or back seat of the van) with him?

My first impression of Julie (thanks for the name correction) was that she was a very mature young lady for her age, and now she seems like the exact opposite. Not saying that the acting out due to the "stress" you mentioned doesn't happen in real life...just saying that I know many young people...including "only children"... who would have reacted entirely differently (as in helping out her mom & dad rather than becoming an additional problem...especially when they have made huge sacrifices in an effort to please her). Maybe it's just the result of her parents showing her too much attention...they certainly have seemed to cave in repeatedly to her, as in their latest 'no-grounding' ruling. I thought her curt response to them said it all in terms of her 'appreciation' for their understanding.

We'll see if her attitude changes now that Dad is back home. If she continues to act out, we'll know that her behavior is a contrivance that the writers have devised to introduce more conflict and not just a result of 'stress'. At any rate, her selfishness is really annoying...I can't work up any sympathy for her at all.

creekdipper

That was really funny. You could see Ol' Buddy's gears grinding away. When Buddy goes on the sly, it's almost a Kodak moment.

Although I got the impression that he was considering hiring the guy to kneecap the new coach.