Friday Night Lights "Toilet Bowl": Location, Location, Location

Now that we're well past the halfway point for this fourth season, it's not only time for the Lions to finally notch a 'W' -- as Coach T correctly points out -- but also for stories that lead to the finale (and beyond*) to begin to come into focus. To that end, we see our heroes auditioning for the near (and not so near) future.

*When the two season renewal came in last year, it gave the writers the benefit of plotting out not just this season, but also the next (and probably final) season.

Everybody seems to be auditioning in our theme of the week. We have Buddy trying out for most valuable booster role (result: El Fuego!); and we see Tim in a monkey suit looking for land (his dream acreage) and then a job (at Applebee's Sears -- result: kind of shaky). Or Regina auditioning for the role of functioning mom by making supper for the girl she knows her son likes (result: literally shaky*). Poor Jess appears to be part of some sort of cattle call here as she's also got Landry and Vince auditioning for a role as boyfriend, and they both know the best way to her heart is through her little brothers. (Vince may lead the league in sunflower seed passing yards, but it's Landry who gets the win with his toy swords.)

*I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to make of Regina's attempt here, but you get the feeling she's not going to be able to hold it together much longer.

And that brings us to Tami accompanying Julie for her Boston College interview, fulfilling the college road trip requirement for groundbreaking dramas (thankfully, Tami didn't have to go all Sopranos and kill a witness ... just a Chaucer reference). Besides the audition, another theme comes into focus here -- that of context. Chaucer uses it to gutter up his *language, which an apt reference for an episode called "Toilet Bowl." It's fitting that Julie's outfits make her look like a realtor (her words), as context is all about "location, location, location" and now the actuality of her leaving home is staring her in the face, she finds herself missing Dillon already. The prospect of far away colleges, a future that helped push Matt away, seem a tad less likely now. I guess that's another way to keep Aimee Teagarden around more next season.

I can't help but think that the man who popularized vernacular English would've had a blast writing a Texas drawl, y'all.

You know who else dealt with real estate's three magic words? That's right, Skeeter ... er, Tim. His context was dialed in as someone in desperate need of money, much like his bro-bro, which is why it's at least believable that Riggins' Rigs would drag their business through the mud. (Thanks to the evil second season, shouldn't we be a bit wary of FNL meddling in crime?) Between the fight he picked last week with Becky's dad and the drugs he helps Luke secure, Tim's already lost his footing on this slippery slope. And speaking of Luke, his context is similar, in that he wants to secure his football future, but instead of money, it's pain he needs to manage. This all looks like it will end badly.

You know what didn't end badly? This episode, thanks in part to the backing of show favorite A.A. Bondy ("Killed Myself When I Was Young", a title that's perhaps too close to the truth for what Luke is doing to his body). The final scenes showed the Lions winning the battle of the worst and getting dirty in the process which was brilliantly crosscut to the Riggins brothers, themselves getting metaphorically dirty to win some desperately needed cash (in the worst way). Context! (For extra credit, compare and contrast this grimy crosscut with a similar sequence in season two's "Mud Bowl.")

And with all that, we have barely any bullet points left in the chamber.

• While I love the Delta Spirit song "Trashcan," wouldn't it have been cooler to have a Boston band backing the opening scenes in Bean Town? (Dropkick Murphys are too obvious, thanks to Scorsese. I'm thinking more like Mission of Burma, Lemonheads, Pixies.)
• For the love of God, WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE GET GRACIE BELL SOME PANTS!
• I don't know about you, but I would love to see more of Tim's beer can interview with Skeeter.
• We have a Crucifictorious sighting! I hope we eventually get to hear more of their demo, as they sound like they've come a long ways since they abandoned that whole Christian metal angle last season.

Playlist: Friday Night Lights - Episode 4.08
1. "Primitive (The Way I Treat You)" - Ambulance Ltd [download]: Buddy listens to the radio while driving through Dillon
2. "Trashcan" - Delta Spirit [download]: Julie and Tami in Boston
3. "From West Texas" - Explosions In The Sky: Tim notices Luke in pain at practice
4. "I'm Not Afraid Of Love" - Sharon Clark and The Product Of Time: Vince & his mom run into Jesse & the kids at the grocery store
5. "Is There Any Love" - Trevor Dandy: Eric has dinner with the alumni at BBQ Pit
6. "An Ugly Fact Of Life" - Explosions In The Sky: Tim shows Becky the acreage; Becky tries to kiss Tim again
7. "Let Me See It" - Get Cool ft Petey Pablo: Game starts
8. "Get It Hot" - 50 Cent [download]: Lions take the lead into half-time
9. "The Light" - Nightstalker [download]: Visiting team takes the lead
10. "Killed Myself When I Was Young" - A. A. Bondy [download]: Luke scores game winning touchdown

Previously: "In the Bag" (Episode 4.07)

Friday Night Lights "A Sort of Homecoming": Wingmen

It's a high praise to the writers of Friday Night Lights that even with a practical episode like "A Sort of Homecoming," which is meant to set up next week's tear-jearker ("The Son"), they still managed to make a vital episode in the show's canon.

Part of what makes "A Sort of Homecoming" work, in spite of its perfunctory purpose, is how a couple of interesting themes tie the episode together. First is the odd duck "wingman" theme, where one character is accompanied by another in a surprising way. The alpha-male pissing match carried over from last week ends with Luke joining Vince in a jail cell; Julie provides support for Devon at "a gay place"; and my favorite -- Riggins helps Becky pick out a pageant dress, like some Texas football-themed episode of Project Runway. There were even a couple of throwback wingmen -- Matt inviting himself to go hunting with Riggins (loved the #33 embroidered camouflage hat), and Buddy finally getting on board and joining Coach in creating the beginnings of an East Dillon booster club.

The other fancy bow tying the episodes together was repeats of "the shoe on the other foot" situations. Tami getting agitated while listening to talk radio bad-mouth her on air was an awful lot like the earful Coach would get at times. But while Coach takes his frustrations to the bar, Tami knows chocolate will suffice (someone's been reading too much Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus). Meanwhile, watching Julie fill out her college application forms seemed like a reversal of late last season, when Matt got accepted to The Art Institute of Chicago. Julie seems to have forgotten, though, as she's oblivious as to how her list of schools might make Matt feel. (At least throw in a school near Chicago, babe.) It's just another domino falling towards the impending Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) exodus.

If Julie's thoughtlessness about their future wasn't enough, the final moments of the episode provide a glimpse of what could be the catalyst for Matt finally getting out, and what a moving scene it was. Backed by Jose Gonzalez' brilliant cover of "Teardrop," a song who's tension is famously used as the theme song to House (in it's original Massive Attack form). We don't get to hear Grandma Lorraine's cry, making the sight of her breaking down even harder to take. (There's more where that came from next week.)

Finally, the scenes with the East Dillon Lions alumni were great, not only for their poignancy at the pep rally (not that drawing "pride" from Lions hasn't been done before), but also for dealing with the racial tension inherent in having the Taylors step in like Phil Drummond in Diffrent Strokes (RIP Gary Coleman). Just like Vince and the $20 bill from "After the Fall," the show is letting us know it's not going to be that kind of story. There has to be participation from the community to make it work, not just the Taylors waving their white magic wand.

Time to bite the bullet points:

• Most will associate this week's title ("A Sort of Homecoming") with the similarly titled song by U2, but Bono himself borrowed the title from Jewish poet Paul Celan, who wrote: "Poetry is a sort of homecoming." The East Dillon Lions 'coming home' is similar to the song, where war refugees come back home and find their war-torn surroundings quite different than how they left it.
• We have our first Crucifictorious reference of the season! Shame on Jess for turning off our favorite Christian-Speed-Metal-turned-Indie-Rock band.
• Riggins reaction to Becky asking "Is that a portrait neckline?" is classic.
• "I've kind of been down that road before. A girl asks me to do something and I say 'yes' then all of a sudden people are calling me a word that I don't like to use." Is that word is 'murderer?' Oh, that's right ... season two never actually happened.
• Seeing Stan at the gay bar was right up there with the WTF reveal of Rawls in The Wire. At least here we get some follow up.

Playlist: Friday Night Lights - Episode 4.04
"Forgotten" - Windsor For The Derby [download]: Tami drives to work listening to talk radio bash her
"White Knuckles" - OK Go [download]: Practice
"Untitled Demo Song" - Crucifictorious! - Landry picks up Jess& friends
"Press It Up" - Sean Paul [download]: Jess switches Landry's stereo to radio; Jess brushes off Vince at party
"When The Devil's Loose" - A.A. Bondy [download]: Coach invites Buddy over for dinner with East Dillon alumni
"Powerful Love" - Chuck and Mac: Coach asks Virgil about hosting pep rally
"Lady Luck" - Richard Swift [download]: Taylors host alumni; Buddy shows up
"3" - Britney Spears [download]: Devon & Julie at 'a gay place.'
"Keep It Hid" - Dan Auerbach [download]: Matt's rifle is confiscated by Tim; Tami loses it after hearing more talk radio
"Teardrop" - Jose Gonzalez [download]: Landry plants on on Jess; Lorraine & Shelby receive some bad news; Matt finds out from Julie

Previously: "In the Skin of a Lion" (Episode 4.03)