You Shouldn't Listen to Me When I Say These Kinds of Things

[rsadelle]

So remember what I said about how Friday Night Lights was hard to watch and I wasn't sure if I could watch more of it? Well, you should ignore me when I say things like that. In the twelve days since that post, I've watched the other 48 episodes of the show. (Note: NBC has only aired and posted to Hulu the first six episodes of season 3, but all thirteen episodes apparently aired on DirecTV, so I was able to find them online. This post may contain spoilers all the way through that thirteenth episode of S3.) I think marathon watching was actually the way to go - the impact isn't quite so startling when you watch them at a stretch. Also, I was going to move on to something else when I was done, but I can't. Instead, I'm rewatching the bits I really like from previous episodes.

I find the structure of the show very interesting. They end each season of the show with the end of football season and each season starts up again at the beginning of a new football season, which must be fun for the writers. They can move the characters along to a new place without having to do all the intervening how they got there parts.

I love the camera work, how it's shaky in a non-annoying way and how often we watch people through windows and around other people as if we're right there.

I'm also fascinated by the way they deal with people graduating and going to college: they let them go. On the one hand, I think this is awesome; so many shows awkwardly try to follow the characters to college and it doesn't work. On the other hand, this means if there's a fourth season, it'll be without Tim and Lyla.

And let me tell you, I love Tim. If you didn't realize that I would love him, you clearly don't know me very well. Tim is the angry kid who's been fucked up by his family, but who loves deeply and is good with kids. This is a fangirl favorite. He also drives an older Chevy Silverado. For the most part, cars and trucks don't do much for me, but I find the late 80s Chevy Silverado totally hot.

Tim also has a really nice character arc. I love watching him in the third season, where he's matured so much. He has this fabulous relationship with Lyla where he says he's not there to fix her problems, he's there to support her in whatever she chooses to do. I also loved the way he says goodbye to Jason: he lets go, even though he gets teary-eyed about it, and I kept expecting that to come back to him doing something stupid, but he doesn't. I liked the way he's so watchful with J.D. without having to do very much about it. I also loved, loved, loved the way he and Matt play with the Frisbee before their last game. Not to mention the adorable way he calls everyone by their jersey numbers.

glendaglamazon said they had some storyline missteps in S2, and I assume she's talking about Landry killing the guy who assaulted Tyra. The biggest problem I had with this plotline is that no one else ever finds out. Surely once he goes to the cops to confess, something becomes public record and the other kids find out.

I did like Tim staying with the Taylors. In S1, I was expecting Matt's dad to put his grandma in a facility and Matt to end up living with the Taylors. I mean, come on, you know someone has to end up living with them! I had to wait a season for it, but I liked that it was Tim, and I loved that he both played with Gracie and protected Julie.

Other relationships I liked:

• Smash and Waverly. It worked for me for him to really like a girl and have to deal with that.


• Landry and Tyra, of course. They're both awesome and they're pretty awesome together.


• Eric and Tami. They have a fantastic relationship, and Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are such great actors. I think one of my favorite moments is when they stop in front of a bar. Eric says, "I need a drink," and Tami looks at him, and then says, "I'll call Jules," and they go have a drink because that's what he needs.


• Jason and Tim. Oh, God, do I love their relationship. I love their multiple nicknames for each other. I love that they're there for each other. I love that they're these Texas football players and they can still say "I love you" to each other (and even in a just friends kind of way, although, of course, I have my slash-colored glasses firmly engaged).


• Tami and Tyra. I really liked Tami mentoring Tyra, and I liked it that they didn't confront Julie's jealousy about it in an annoyingly direct way.

The biggest disappointment to me is that there isn't a gay player. Later on, there is a very minor character who turns out to be a lesbian, but she doesn't get much of a story. Honestly, they could have had a gay player as a throw-away character, the way they had Bobby Reyes as the player who gets thrown off the team for outside brushes with the law. But I think they could have done something really good with a gay player as a plot. I also have to admit that I was a little disappointed by Matt and Julie. I read Matt as gay when we first met him, and I like Julie's relationships with her parents better than her relationship with Matt, although their relationship did grow on me.

Something else that bothered me is that Lyla has no friends. I suppose it's supposed to be part of the point about her character, but I was annoyed by it, especially since I otherwise really liked Lyla. She has such a core of determination, and I was so impressed by her introducing herself as "Lyla Garrity. Yeah, the whore with the website." Wow.

I have to admit that before I got deep into getting to know them and liking them who they are now, I wanted more backstory about why Lyla and Tyra dislike each other. Is it just a class conflict, or is there some other history? It seems like they'd have some common ground with being Jason and Tim's girlfriends.

I'm now ready for some fic recs, especially Jason/Tim/Lyla or Tim/Lyla or really, anything with Tim. Some recs from me:

40 Miles North of Presidio by Jae Gecko - Lovely Tim/m story.

Five Things Jason Street Was the First to Say by hth_the_first - Nice Jason/Lyla/Tim story.

Hotassery is Not Special Dispensation to be an Ass by hackthis - Amusing and nicely done Tim and Landry gen fic.

The Pursuit of Happiness by brandil - Awesome Tim/Lyla/Jason set during "Let's Get It On."

Riggins & Winchester by thisisbone - The most amazing FNL/SPN Tim/Dean crossover. Oh, I loved this story.

Texas Forever by Ishafel - I don't know if this is supposed to actually be a happy story; I found it sad.

Texas Forever by t_fic - Excellent gen Tim future fic.

Comments

[glendaglamazon.livejournal.com]

I am glad you finished watching the show. It is just an amazing piece of work. I also feel like I would be okay with it if it doesn't come back for a fourth season (though I obviously really want it to), but I feel like they ended S3 in a really good place.

I was referring to the killing the guy storyline. The exec producer, Jason Katims, said they did it because they thought Tyra and Landry needed something extreme to make Tyra turn to Landry as a lover, which I thought was unnecessary. I also felt it was redundant and melodramatic in light of the very real assault that Tyra experienced. I also thought Landry was entirely out of character in not insisting that they tell the cops from the get-go, especially when we then find out his dad is a deputy. For the guy whose Christian values wouldn't allow him to leave Lyla on the side of the road, no matter what Tyra thought of her or what Tyra wanted, I don't believe he would have kept that secret, no matter what Tyra wanted.

What I love about this show, though, is that, though I hated that event and how Landry acted during it, I loved everything they did afterwards in dealing with it.

I fully agree with everything else you said about the show, and add on my massive love for Smash and his Mama. I thought their characters were so well drawn and complex, and I mourn that such a complex black family relationship is no longer on television. We need a lot more of that.

I think they might explore a gay player if they get the opportunity in the future, and I would definitely be interested in seeing where they would take such a story.

I have never really read FNL fic, because the show's world is kind of so perfect to me that I don't really need to look for more, but good luck finding some!

[eleanor-lavish.livejournal.com]

Hey, where did you find the rest of season 3? I'm finally caught up with the NBC available eps...

And yay recs! Riggins & Winchester foreverrrr!

[rsadelle]

They did do a great job of finishing off S3 in a nice place while also leaving it open enough to have some good places to go for a S4 plot.

Yeah, I had a problem with him not telling the cops. I think I would have liked it better if Landry had hit the guy and they'd gotten him to the hospital. I think that would have had more and more interesting consequences.

Smash and his Mama were also great, and I liked his Mama's relationships with Eric and Tami too.

I hope that if they get a S4, they at least think about a gay player! I think they could do absolutely fascinating things with it.

I want more in quantity from fic more than I want more in something different (except for wanting a Tim/Jason/Lyla happily ever after, except now I like Erin, so she'd have to fit there somehow that wasn't making her evil). Of all the things I recced, if you just like the world as is, I would suggest reading t_fic's Texas Forever. It's gen and I think it captures the world of the show really well. It was also written in S1, and yet it does a very nice job of anticipating some of Tim's character growth.

[rsadelle]

Yidio and SideReel both aggregate links to eps available elsewhere. I may have also at times googled watch friday night lights free to find other links. Be forewarned, if you don't already have experience with it, that Megavideo (and most of the links are at Megavideo) can be a pain because your IP address can only watch 72 minutes of video before you have to wait an hour to watch more.

I can't get over how awesome that Riggins & Winchester story is!