Debbie Does Dillon
Today's post is guest "hosted" by my friend Deb. The topic: the fantastic TV drama Friday Night Lights. For those of you who haven't seen Friday Night Lights, you must check it out: Wednesdays at 8:00 on NBC. It's an hour drama focused on the citizens and high school football community of a small town in west Texas (based on Odessa, just down the road from my sister Sally in Midland).
For those of you who haven't seen Deb, she is a former work colleague, current book club member, and generally acknowledged to be a saint. Here is a picture of her ministrying to the needy at the Christian social program L'Arche:
Deb is also known to write letters of protest against the death penalty, but I really don't care about those things. I like Deb because she writes me funny emails about TV. So please enjoy this analysis of last night's episode of Friday Night Lights:
-ooh! as coach pulls into the school yard at the beginning of the episode and everyone's already setting up for the big game, you can hear a radio announcer say something like, "when tatum left the dillon panthers, we all thought he was going back to louisiana. turns out he got a better offer from west [garbled]." wonder if they'll bring tatum back as quarterback on the opposing team in the finals. that would be a very interesting match-up---mattie versus tatum.
-LANDRY'S MOVES: let me ask you a question, though. did your tutor teach tim riggins to read in about a day and a half? no? okay. is your tutor at the top of his honors calculus class? did your tutor score a 77 on his PSAT math portion? no? i just really think youneed the A Team. listen, you got mr. T standing right in front of you. and T stands for . . . *brightly* Tyra's Algebra Tutor!
TYRA: *laughs*
LANDRY: right?
TYRA: seriously?
LANDRY: i am really good at math.
-*matt at practice in city park, running after kid who steals his helmet*
-*coach asking dillon panthers if anyone else besides matt saracen has received anonymous kick backs*
COACH: no? no one? not in your locker? not anywhere else?
TEAM: *silence*
COACH: *to smash* that must piss you off.
DEB: hee!
-*buddy garrity taking a leak on the side of the road, avoiding coach taylor's questions about the anonymous cash gifts*
DEB: ew! hee. ew! hee. hew! that's so buddy. the world is his toilet. and? what a metaphor:
buddy garrity is incontinent! haw.
-TYRA: you know, if you love math so much, why don't you start your own little math club? that way you can do math all day long.
LANDRY: you see, i did, but nobody showed up.
TYRA: shocking.
DEB: *tackles landry in mud*
-*coach runs to truck to get blankets to seduce his wife in cow pasture*
-LYLA: i do it because i love you, stupid!
-*at barber shop*
LANDRY: is that you snickering over there? because she said "date." "it's a date."
MATT: i know, i know. but "it's a date," it's, ah, it's . . . it's an expression. a colloceeyalism used everywhere.
. . .
LANDRY: carl, not too tight. i don't wanna look all frayed when i go to see my lady.
-BILLY RIGGINS: i might not have a ph.d. in stupid like you do. . . .
-JASON: seriously, mom, dad? i know it's been hard on you, but we are not here to WIN THE LOTTERY.
-BONUS TRIVIA: one of joeF's former coworkers from FERC is originally from texas, and she said mrs. street is played by her friend's former sixth-grade teacher. apparently she's a lovely lady in real life. did a few commercials. is from the area. was picked up for the show.
-BRANDON, VIKING COACH: my boys could kick your boys' butts on an ice skating rink wearing nothing but socks if they had to.
DEB: hoo. well. ahem. mind if we, ah, entertain the "nothing but socks" scenario briefly?
COACHES TAYLOR AND BRANDON: *ignore deb*
DEB: seriously. guys? hello? i think there's some merit in this suggestion . . .
-vikings score touchdown, and it starts to rain; coach taylor grimaces.
landry can't start car. "don't . . . DON'T do this to me."
great parallel of disappointment, doom, et cetera.
-mattie throws a ball that's tipped and then intercepted. coach taylor screams and hollers at him to "gecher head in the game!" jason calmly critiques matt's technique. coach taylor just watches.
DEB: I adore how coach taylor is so fallible. sometimes he just hollers and doesn't actually do anything constructive with his boys. i love how jason is nicer and calmer and more articulate. if there's one thing coach taylor is not, it's articulate. just ask his daughter. or TAMI.
-OBSERVATION: don't you think it's maybe bad for jason's wheelchair to be out in the rain? i'm thinking rust. don't get me wrong---i wouldn't have him miss this game for the world. but in general it can't be good to douse the iron maiden, if you know what I mean.
-NOTE: it's clever how the stadium kerfuffle has made it a nonissue for jason to be on the sidelines. EVERYONE is on the sidelines, since there are no actual stands, really. so jason sort of seamlessly steps in to coach QB 1, which otherwise couldn't have happened in the actual dillon stadium. and there we have our plot development---jason as potential member of dillon panther coaching staff. well played, writers' room. well played, indeed.
-it all comes down to the last twenty-four minutes of the game, tied 8 all, the field a bowl of mud. coach taylor gives the boys a pep talk, telling them that the blood, sweat, and tears are theirs and remain on their field. "it all comes down to this," he says, as miles away tyra has her own epic struggle, screaming, trying to ward off a would-be rapist. okay, not only are the writers genius in taking a construct we've seen countless other times this season (will the dillon panthers prevail?) and injecting it with heart-racing tension (by geniusly intercutting tyra's attack), but they parallel the two situations---thegritty, sweaty, bloody, dirty fights. and of course, as this show does time and again, it asks us to compare these struggles. we know that victory feels just as vital to the panthers as it does to tyra. and deeper still, we know, if we care to think about it, what really matters, whose struggle is actually important. (HINT: there's more to life than football.) GENius.
-as tyra brutalizes her attacker, shoving a cigarette lighter in his eye and slamming the truck door repeatedly on his wrist, we cheer for her grit and the gore, and we want him to suffer. compare that to the gladiator-like struggle on the panther's makeshift field: the desperation and deep digging among the panthers, who've let themselves become the underdogs in the first half of the game. there's a blood lust for all of the spectators. maim the rapist. school the vikings. ooh---anyone know anything about the history of the vikings? did they, say, rape and pillage? rapist and vikings as pale doppelgangers? no? too much?
-smash is downed at the five yard line. ANNOUNCER: the clock is winding down on the panthers' season. flash to tyra, battered, bedraggled, dripping wet, stumbling through the parking lot, gathering her strewn books. time is running out, baby. hope is running out.
-commentator mentions how smart mattie's been playing all game long. camera flashes to jason on the sidelines, yelling, "goooo!" to mattie. camera flashes to coach taylor, looking from mattie to jason. starting to make a connection. wonderful.
-ANNOUNCER: our dillon panthers are going to state!
*water beads on gramma saracen's wide-angle lenses as she grins battily*
-little bo, reaching all of fifteen inches off the muddy ground, stands next to a comparatively hulking tim riggins, chirp-screeching, "we're going to state!!" arms flailing. *deb's ovaries explode*
-NOTE: i LOVE that they put tyra in braids for her scene. it reminds us that for all her bravado and oversexualization she's still just a little girl. there's something very little red riding hood about the image.
-i missed this the first time around! the fans (including the band! a guy with a tuba?!) go mud sliding after the victory! hilarious. wonderful. such pure, childlike joy. <-- what coach taylor was trying to bring back to dillon football.
-ooh! mama was right! that one coach (who previously made the racist statements), mac?, comes up to coach taylor and says, "looks like we got voodoo in the final." so, tatum IS in texas, and he's chosen the other team that's made it to state. wonderful showdown THAT will be. great. well, this is very FNLish---they give us a victory, and they taint it eeeeeever so slightly. huh. just a tinge of concern.
-but they leave it with coach taylor asking jason street if he's ever thought about coaching.
brilliant! wonderful! best. show. ever.
For those of you who haven't seen Deb, she is a former work colleague, current book club member, and generally acknowledged to be a saint. Here is a picture of her ministrying to the needy at the Christian social program L'Arche:
Deb is also known to write letters of protest against the death penalty, but I really don't care about those things. I like Deb because she writes me funny emails about TV. So please enjoy this analysis of last night's episode of Friday Night Lights:
-ooh! as coach pulls into the school yard at the beginning of the episode and everyone's already setting up for the big game, you can hear a radio announcer say something like, "when tatum left the dillon panthers, we all thought he was going back to louisiana. turns out he got a better offer from west [garbled]." wonder if they'll bring tatum back as quarterback on the opposing team in the finals. that would be a very interesting match-up---mattie versus tatum.
-LANDRY'S MOVES: let me ask you a question, though. did your tutor teach tim riggins to read in about a day and a half? no? okay. is your tutor at the top of his honors calculus class? did your tutor score a 77 on his PSAT math portion? no? i just really think youneed the A Team. listen, you got mr. T standing right in front of you. and T stands for . . . *brightly* Tyra's Algebra Tutor!
TYRA: *laughs*
LANDRY: right?
TYRA: seriously?
LANDRY: i am really good at math.
-*matt at practice in city park, running after kid who steals his helmet*
-*coach asking dillon panthers if anyone else besides matt saracen has received anonymous kick backs*
COACH: no? no one? not in your locker? not anywhere else?
TEAM: *silence*
COACH: *to smash* that must piss you off.
DEB: hee!
-*buddy garrity taking a leak on the side of the road, avoiding coach taylor's questions about the anonymous cash gifts*
DEB: ew! hee. ew! hee. hew! that's so buddy. the world is his toilet. and? what a metaphor:
buddy garrity is incontinent! haw.
-TYRA: you know, if you love math so much, why don't you start your own little math club? that way you can do math all day long.
LANDRY: you see, i did, but nobody showed up.
TYRA: shocking.
DEB: *tackles landry in mud*
-*coach runs to truck to get blankets to seduce his wife in cow pasture*
-LYLA: i do it because i love you, stupid!
-*at barber shop*
LANDRY: is that you snickering over there? because she said "date." "it's a date."
MATT: i know, i know. but "it's a date," it's, ah, it's . . . it's an expression. a colloceeyalism used everywhere.
. . .
LANDRY: carl, not too tight. i don't wanna look all frayed when i go to see my lady.
-BILLY RIGGINS: i might not have a ph.d. in stupid like you do. . . .
-JASON: seriously, mom, dad? i know it's been hard on you, but we are not here to WIN THE LOTTERY.
-BONUS TRIVIA: one of joeF's former coworkers from FERC is originally from texas, and she said mrs. street is played by her friend's former sixth-grade teacher. apparently she's a lovely lady in real life. did a few commercials. is from the area. was picked up for the show.
-BRANDON, VIKING COACH: my boys could kick your boys' butts on an ice skating rink wearing nothing but socks if they had to.
DEB: hoo. well. ahem. mind if we, ah, entertain the "nothing but socks" scenario briefly?
COACHES TAYLOR AND BRANDON: *ignore deb*
DEB: seriously. guys? hello? i think there's some merit in this suggestion . . .
-vikings score touchdown, and it starts to rain; coach taylor grimaces.
landry can't start car. "don't . . . DON'T do this to me."
great parallel of disappointment, doom, et cetera.
-mattie throws a ball that's tipped and then intercepted. coach taylor screams and hollers at him to "gecher head in the game!" jason calmly critiques matt's technique. coach taylor just watches.
DEB: I adore how coach taylor is so fallible. sometimes he just hollers and doesn't actually do anything constructive with his boys. i love how jason is nicer and calmer and more articulate. if there's one thing coach taylor is not, it's articulate. just ask his daughter. or TAMI.
-OBSERVATION: don't you think it's maybe bad for jason's wheelchair to be out in the rain? i'm thinking rust. don't get me wrong---i wouldn't have him miss this game for the world. but in general it can't be good to douse the iron maiden, if you know what I mean.
-NOTE: it's clever how the stadium kerfuffle has made it a nonissue for jason to be on the sidelines. EVERYONE is on the sidelines, since there are no actual stands, really. so jason sort of seamlessly steps in to coach QB 1, which otherwise couldn't have happened in the actual dillon stadium. and there we have our plot development---jason as potential member of dillon panther coaching staff. well played, writers' room. well played, indeed.
-it all comes down to the last twenty-four minutes of the game, tied 8 all, the field a bowl of mud. coach taylor gives the boys a pep talk, telling them that the blood, sweat, and tears are theirs and remain on their field. "it all comes down to this," he says, as miles away tyra has her own epic struggle, screaming, trying to ward off a would-be rapist. okay, not only are the writers genius in taking a construct we've seen countless other times this season (will the dillon panthers prevail?) and injecting it with heart-racing tension (by geniusly intercutting tyra's attack), but they parallel the two situations---thegritty, sweaty, bloody, dirty fights. and of course, as this show does time and again, it asks us to compare these struggles. we know that victory feels just as vital to the panthers as it does to tyra. and deeper still, we know, if we care to think about it, what really matters, whose struggle is actually important. (HINT: there's more to life than football.) GENius.
-as tyra brutalizes her attacker, shoving a cigarette lighter in his eye and slamming the truck door repeatedly on his wrist, we cheer for her grit and the gore, and we want him to suffer. compare that to the gladiator-like struggle on the panther's makeshift field: the desperation and deep digging among the panthers, who've let themselves become the underdogs in the first half of the game. there's a blood lust for all of the spectators. maim the rapist. school the vikings. ooh---anyone know anything about the history of the vikings? did they, say, rape and pillage? rapist and vikings as pale doppelgangers? no? too much?
-smash is downed at the five yard line. ANNOUNCER: the clock is winding down on the panthers' season. flash to tyra, battered, bedraggled, dripping wet, stumbling through the parking lot, gathering her strewn books. time is running out, baby. hope is running out.
-commentator mentions how smart mattie's been playing all game long. camera flashes to jason on the sidelines, yelling, "goooo!" to mattie. camera flashes to coach taylor, looking from mattie to jason. starting to make a connection. wonderful.
-ANNOUNCER: our dillon panthers are going to state!
*water beads on gramma saracen's wide-angle lenses as she grins battily*
-little bo, reaching all of fifteen inches off the muddy ground, stands next to a comparatively hulking tim riggins, chirp-screeching, "we're going to state!!" arms flailing. *deb's ovaries explode*
-NOTE: i LOVE that they put tyra in braids for her scene. it reminds us that for all her bravado and oversexualization she's still just a little girl. there's something very little red riding hood about the image.
-i missed this the first time around! the fans (including the band! a guy with a tuba?!) go mud sliding after the victory! hilarious. wonderful. such pure, childlike joy. <-- what coach taylor was trying to bring back to dillon football.
-ooh! mama was right! that one coach (who previously made the racist statements), mac?, comes up to coach taylor and says, "looks like we got voodoo in the final." so, tatum IS in texas, and he's chosen the other team that's made it to state. wonderful showdown THAT will be. great. well, this is very FNLish---they give us a victory, and they taint it eeeeeever so slightly. huh. just a tinge of concern.
-but they leave it with coach taylor asking jason street if he's ever thought about coaching.
brilliant! wonderful! best. show. ever.
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