Friday Night Lights - May the Best Man Win

Sorry for the delay in the FNL recap! I have been putting this off, primarily because I haven’t wanted to say goodbye to all my friends in Dillon, TX. This episode has been called the season finale, but it was never meant to be. Had it not been for the WGA strike, we would simply be talking about the juicy new story lines (Jason!) and settling in for the 4th quarter. BUT, Friday Night Light’s fate for the remainder of this season, and any other season has not been decided. With that being said, we take what we can get.


In the opener, we learn that Jason (Scott Porter) is going to be a Dad! Well, if he can convince the waitress he knocked up to keep the baby! Jason was led to believe fathering a child was an impossibility since his accident, and is out to make the best of this “miracle”. He turns on all of his charm and salesmanship, but freaks out the girl. He turns to Coach for advice, and towards the end of the episode seems like he might be convincing her to at least “consider” keeping the baby.


We have a cameo from Peter Berg (FNL executve producer) playing an old boyfriend of Tami’s (Connie Britton) who is back in Dillon to buy some commercial real estate. We have some funny scenes between the three of them as Eric (Kyle Chandler) grudgingly goes along with the dinner invitations, coaching advice, etc. Eric has had enough of this “old flame”, and after accepting a challenge to have one too many after dinner drinks (whiskey), finally erupts and punches him, causing Tami to leave the restaurant unescorted, shaking her head with disgust.


Smash (Gaius Charles) continues to worry about his future, chasing down the schools he rejected the first time around, only to find them no longer interested. Coach convinces him to go with him to visit Whitmore College. This is a long way from the type of school Smash had envisioned for his future. Their coach wins him over when he talks about having followed Smash since 7th grade knowing he was going to be something special.


Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) finagles himself an audition at the Christian radio station doing a sports talk show. The phones are ringing off the hook with the ladies all trying to get a date with Riggins…haha! This annoys Lyla (Minka Kelly), but not “the boyfriend” Chris, since he thinks he has Lyla wrapped around his finger. Tsk tsk…Riggins is much more dangerous than you will ever know Chris!


Finally, Lyla is spending the weekend with Chris’ family at their ranch. Somehow Lyla is going to have to get out of this relationship, didn’t she look uncomfortable at dinner? And, Chris is a little too confident for my tastes.

Overall, a good episode, too bad it probably was the season finale.