Friday Night Lights - Jumping the Gun

Praise the Lord it was another Riggins filled Friday Night Lights!

This episode begins with Smash and his "advisor" Noel taking meetings with various recruiters at his house. Mama is none too happy about this. Everybody wants a verbal commitment from Smash except TMU, which is where he has always wanted to go. College is just the stepping stone for Smash to get into the Pro's, but to his mother it's also his education.


After Tami runs into Smash's mom at the market being accosted by a recruiter, she talks to Eric, and Eric in turn talks to Smash. Smash and his "advisor" Noel of course. Coach's advice "don't rush into anything, read the fine print and listen to your mother". Smash doesn't have a father figure in his life, so he listens to Coach.


By the end of the episode, Smash finally gets his talk with the TMU recruiter and they offer him a free ride. Smash gives TMU a verbal commitment, then gives his Momma some flowers. For all of Smash's posturing he's not such a bad kid.


At the Taylor household, we have a couple of things going on. First off, Julie remembers! But I'll get back to that later.


Shelly gets the results that she "passed" some Real Estate exam she must have taken. In her excitement she starts talking about adding another phone line at the Taylor's for her cold calling. Eric and Tami exchange the "it doesn't look like she's moving out anytime soon" look. Later, after Shelly records "The Office" over one of his football games, Eric asks her when exactly she is going to be moving out? Eric apologizes for that coming out like it did, but Shelly takes the hint and moves out.


Tami and Shelly meet for lunch and there are no hard feelings. Shelly has decided to move to Dallas. I'm not sure how her and Riggins are going to hook up with her in Dallas...? I am happy to see Shelly go because she distracts from the other story lines without adding much of substance.


Back to Riggins. It looks like he's been spending the night in the school locker room. and when Coach finds out he kicks him out of there. He goes home (his original home), and finds an eviction notice on the door, with no sign of his brother Billy. He spots Billy's girlfriend (his ex-girlfriend) packing her car. It seems her and Billy broke up after Billy lost his job. Riggins offers her his Dad's address in case she was interested in a Riggins trifecta. Ouch!


Later, Riggins finds his brother sitting on the lawn, looking like hell, and mumbling about having lost his keys. They go inside and mend some bridges. It seems Riggins may be back home, if they can find Billy a job, and the money for the mortgage.


Meanwhile, Julie can't tell her Dad about Riggins without admitting she had been drinking. After thinking "you spoiled rotten little...", she finds Riggins and apologizes, and then right before the big game fesses up to Dad.


After the game, probably Saturday morning, Coach finds Riggins. How do they always know where to find him? He's homeless most of the time? Anyway, I digress. Coach apologizes for jumping to conclusions about the other night finding him with Julie. "It's OK" says Tim. Coach explains that he has been riding him, giving him a hard time, falsely accusing him of things, and all the while, Tim has been looking after his daughter, taking the fall for her, and never once complaining. Coach tells Tim as a father, not as a coach, he is an honorable man. "Thank you, Sir".


Unfortunately the "honorable man" speech didn't come quite early enough. Prior to the Coach's visit, Billy and Tim encountered a road block. That is a choice between two tasks on the Amazing Race, and it is here as well. They drive over to the Meth Lab, or Tim's old home (3 homes ago?) to grab his stuff. You'll recall that when Tim left for the liquor store he never returned. Finding no-one home they go in, Tim grabs his stuff, and they are out of there. However, in his haste, Tim knocks his ex-roommates gun off the banister. Against Billy's better judgement, Tim stops to fish it out from under the table to return it to the banister. While retrieving the gun Tim finds a wad of money in a ziploc bag taped to the bottom of the table. Here's the roadblock. Tim says, "This is the mortgage Billy". They grab it and run. Is it really stealing if the money belongs to a drug dealer? Yes, son it is.


Lastly we have the hotly contested game between the Dillon Panther's and their "guests" the Laribee Lions. It's great to have football again in Dillon! The families we love are in the stands, their problems left outside the football stadium to be resolved after the game. The game is back and forth all night, with Dillon being down in the final minutes of the game. The play coach calls is taking Riggins into the end zone until, out of nowhere, the Laribee coach tackles him at about the 5 yd line. Of course, the Panthers win because coaches can't do that!


We finish with movie night "Mom's choice" at the Taylor's. All is wonderful in Dillon, TX.