Friday Night Lights - Hole in the Bucket

After last week's 'meh' episode, FNL gets back on track this week with "It Ain't Easy Being J.D. McCoy," a solid hour that felt like hanging out with good friends. "Good times," as Riggins might say, with actor Taylor Kitsch channeling David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) from Dazed & Confused, and a majority of Riggins time we get this week (especially the great tour of Dillon) felt a lot like Richard Linklater's wonderfully lazy classic.

That's not to say that nothing happened, because Matt and Julie finally got down and did the dirty(!) The whole scene was shot with such reverence for the act that we saw nothing, instead were left to figure it out from Aimee Teagarden's impressive acting of the morning after. First checking herself out in the mirror (I'm a woman now!) and then with the smiling furtive glances she exchanges with Matt later at church. So she got the flower last week (tatoo on ankle,) and now Matt hath plucked it.

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, there's a hole
"Well, fix it!" - Coach Taylor

While there wasn't much for Coach (Kyle Chandler) to do this week, his presence was felt pretty much everywhere. Take for instance the J.D./Riggins storyline. Now that J.D. is QB1, we anticipated seeing more of him, but few figured on seeing all of him -- via the time-honored tradition of the Naked Mile. Coach recognizes J.D.'s like an exchange student on the team (thanks to his stage mom of a father) so having the team drunk take him under his wing was like tossing him in the deep end to get him swimming with the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, Street and the strange house flip storyline move to its inevitable FUBAR moment, hilariously played like a Flip This House episode gone horribly wrong. Billy shooting himself with the nail gun after boasting of his construction experience (backed by Jay Reatard's "See-Saw") made this head scratching plot all worth it -- especially with the bloodstained note on the wall that greets Jason later ("WE'LL FINISH IN THE AM!") Coach steps in and throws some water on Street's pity party. It all gives Scott Porter's delivery of "There's a Hole in the Bucket" to his son over the phone a touching moment that's well earned.

Meanwhile, the rodeo clown Cash continues to befuddle this season's version of Tyra. If the character wasn't transparent enough, the music that plays whenever Cash talks with her at Applebees* is always about lying. Last week it was The Walkmen's "If Only It Were True," and this week it's the Eagles of Death Metal song "Now I'm A Fool" that clues us in that he's a phony. Meanwhile, this episode marks the beginning of FNL's attempt to bring the great Evan Johns to the world. A legend in his former haunts of both D.C. and Austin, Johns has three songs in this episode, and, I'm told, even more to come in future episodes.

*NBC's product placement of Applebee's was especially oderous this week

Speaking of music, I can't believe I've waited this long to say how excited I am that Landry's band Crucifictorious is back, and better than ever. Thanks to a lineup change, the promising freshman Devon takes over at bass, the band appears to be giving up on their Christian Death Metal approach and moving on to songs about heartbreak. Laments the band's former bass player, "I thought we were going to be bigger than Crimson Thorn!"

Playlist: Friday Night Lights - Episode 3.06
1. "The Hump" - Heavy Trash - the naked mile
2. "Lessons That Burn" - Evan Johns and The H-Bombs - Eric catches a naked JD
3. "See Saw" - Jay Reatard - house flipping plans
4. "Now I'm A Fool" - Eagles Of Death Metal - Cash visits Tyra at work>
5. "Pain Of Love" by Evan Johns and The H-Bombs - Tim takes JD on a tour of Dillon
6. "Strung Out" - The Bacon Brothers - Tyra works on the decorations
7. "Where I Stood" - Missy Higgins - Cash's ex stops by Tyra's house
8. "Boudin Man" by Evan Johns and The H-Bombs - The Panthers win
9. "It's So Right" - Josh Rifkin - Tyra confronts Cash
10. "Black Dirt" - Bumblebeez - The school dance starts
11. "Orange Blossoms" - JJ Grey & Mofro - Tim & Lyla run into JD at the dance
12. "Safer When" - C'mon - Tim & Lyla take take JD to a party
13. "Spaceships" - Bumblebeez - Cash shows up at Tyra's house
14. "Remember When (Side B)" - The Black Keys - Tim & Lyla rescue a drunk JD
15. "Canadian Girl" - The Walkmen - Eric arrives at the dance

Previously: Flip This QB, Flip that House (Episode 3.05)