Friday Night Lights
Netflix has Friday Night Lights up so I decided to give it another try. I kinda got bored with the first few minutes of the pilot the last time I tried watching, but this time I think I was in the right mood for the football town extravaganza.
I just finished the episode where Jason proposes to Lyla so please no spoilers in comments past this point.
Favorite characters (so far)?
1. Tami Taylor for her being so witty, for standing up to her husband when he's being all gruff and bossy, for refusing to back down and always doing what she feels is right. Plus, she "kills 'em with kindness." I loved when Julie came home and told her parents "I love you guys, you're the best parents ever" and Coach just smiled like "of course we are, sweetie" and Tami went "oh god, something horrible must've happened". She just knew, she totally knew. And she made casseroles to take over to Matt, awww. Tami ♥
2. And Matt Saracen--I love how important family is to him, how sweet he is to his grandma, how shy and awkward he was asking Julie out (also, LMAO when Coach realized he'd told Matt to get his daughter in the backseat of a car and get "loose"). Sometimes I get really frustrated with how curt Coach is with Matt (not when it comes to Julie, I understand that), but Matt worked hard to come up with a game plan to get past opposing defense by watching those films the Coach "punished" him with, and he figured out something great, only to have the Coach dismiss him for his ideas, then apparently look at them later, then rely on Matt in the final hour which yeah took a lot of faith, but he was so grudging about it. And when Matt went up to talk with him about it, Coach just shut him down again. Matt's so desperately looking for a Mentor and Coach has rescinded that role he was offering when he first got Matt to shout out the plays in the middle of the night.
Character I... don't like so much?
1. Brian "Smash" Williams. not 'cause he refers to himself in the third person, but because he keeps doing all these awful things that I just can't take. Stupid, selfish things. And it's not that I wholeheartedly dislike him--I just find myself liking him one episode and then the next gritting my teeth and wanting to slap him.
2. Tyra. So, I'm completely unaware of what fandom thinks of Tyra and maybe she's incredibly popular. But she pisses me off. Mostly because of how she treats Jason Street and Lyla. I feel like Tyra pursues Jason, seeks out his company, to spite Lyla. And clearly there's some serious hate going on--when Tyra found out Tim Riggins had been sleeping with Lyla (while he and Tyra were broken up), she slapped him and said "not her". So it was just Lyla that pissed her off? Okaaay. And this dislike comes from the fact that I do like Lyla. She did horribly stupid things cheating on Jason, but I think she's a good person. Though, I did love it when Tyra went apeshit over her mom's boyfriend when he was hitting her mom, and I loved when she stook up and demanded her mom let him go (it eerily reminded me of something that had happened to me).
Other stuff?
I think it's really interesting how each big game has a different player shining. It reminds me of how a football movie would have every player have their moment in the same game. But instead, its spread out. Sometimes players have bad games because of personal troubles that psyche them out. Sometimes Smash is the star. Sometimes Saracen. Sometimes Riggs. I like how it goes around then comes around. And I predict for State, they'll all get their moment, they'll all play in harmony.
I love the Riggins brothers dynamic. And the Taylor family (Tami and Eric fighting under the tablecloth during the middle of a party!). I love Buddy Garretty and Lyla too--how he went after her during a game because the school was harassing her, hugged her and she noted he'd "never left a game before". Buddy Garretty is interesting to me because I think he wants to be the town's father, just help others out when he can, but he's also a self-important jerk and he's a bit of a skeeze. But he's not evil, he's just... overly involved? And it seems there's just as many people asking him to be involved, so it's not all him going where he's not wanted.
The drama of this show feels organic, very genuine. Like how the Street family is suing Coach Taylor, how Jason has even gone along with it, not because they blame him, but because they don't have another choice, it's the only hope they have of making it through. The scene when Jason's dad was telling Coach Taylor "I can't talk about this with you" and then he said how it's "killing" him but "since I'm a dead man anyways"... GAH. That was an amazing scene.
So who's y'all's favorite characters? Any fave moments from the first half of Season 1?
Also please no spoilers for later on. Vague spoilers like "I like Tyra, her arc gets really interesting later on" is cool, but try not to be specific. Though there's two things I already know: Tyra gets together with Landry some point in the future (oh, Landry tutoring Riggs was great!) and the Panthers win State at the end of the first season.
I just finished the episode where Jason proposes to Lyla so please no spoilers in comments past this point.
Favorite characters (so far)?
1. Tami Taylor for her being so witty, for standing up to her husband when he's being all gruff and bossy, for refusing to back down and always doing what she feels is right. Plus, she "kills 'em with kindness." I loved when Julie came home and told her parents "I love you guys, you're the best parents ever" and Coach just smiled like "of course we are, sweetie" and Tami went "oh god, something horrible must've happened". She just knew, she totally knew. And she made casseroles to take over to Matt, awww. Tami ♥
2. And Matt Saracen--I love how important family is to him, how sweet he is to his grandma, how shy and awkward he was asking Julie out (also, LMAO when Coach realized he'd told Matt to get his daughter in the backseat of a car and get "loose"). Sometimes I get really frustrated with how curt Coach is with Matt (not when it comes to Julie, I understand that), but Matt worked hard to come up with a game plan to get past opposing defense by watching those films the Coach "punished" him with, and he figured out something great, only to have the Coach dismiss him for his ideas, then apparently look at them later, then rely on Matt in the final hour which yeah took a lot of faith, but he was so grudging about it. And when Matt went up to talk with him about it, Coach just shut him down again. Matt's so desperately looking for a Mentor and Coach has rescinded that role he was offering when he first got Matt to shout out the plays in the middle of the night.
Character I... don't like so much?
1. Brian "Smash" Williams. not 'cause he refers to himself in the third person, but because he keeps doing all these awful things that I just can't take. Stupid, selfish things. And it's not that I wholeheartedly dislike him--I just find myself liking him one episode and then the next gritting my teeth and wanting to slap him.
2. Tyra. So, I'm completely unaware of what fandom thinks of Tyra and maybe she's incredibly popular. But she pisses me off. Mostly because of how she treats Jason Street and Lyla. I feel like Tyra pursues Jason, seeks out his company, to spite Lyla. And clearly there's some serious hate going on--when Tyra found out Tim Riggins had been sleeping with Lyla (while he and Tyra were broken up), she slapped him and said "not her". So it was just Lyla that pissed her off? Okaaay. And this dislike comes from the fact that I do like Lyla. She did horribly stupid things cheating on Jason, but I think she's a good person. Though, I did love it when Tyra went apeshit over her mom's boyfriend when he was hitting her mom, and I loved when she stook up and demanded her mom let him go (it eerily reminded me of something that had happened to me).
Other stuff?
I think it's really interesting how each big game has a different player shining. It reminds me of how a football movie would have every player have their moment in the same game. But instead, its spread out. Sometimes players have bad games because of personal troubles that psyche them out. Sometimes Smash is the star. Sometimes Saracen. Sometimes Riggs. I like how it goes around then comes around. And I predict for State, they'll all get their moment, they'll all play in harmony.
I love the Riggins brothers dynamic. And the Taylor family (Tami and Eric fighting under the tablecloth during the middle of a party!). I love Buddy Garretty and Lyla too--how he went after her during a game because the school was harassing her, hugged her and she noted he'd "never left a game before". Buddy Garretty is interesting to me because I think he wants to be the town's father, just help others out when he can, but he's also a self-important jerk and he's a bit of a skeeze. But he's not evil, he's just... overly involved? And it seems there's just as many people asking him to be involved, so it's not all him going where he's not wanted.
The drama of this show feels organic, very genuine. Like how the Street family is suing Coach Taylor, how Jason has even gone along with it, not because they blame him, but because they don't have another choice, it's the only hope they have of making it through. The scene when Jason's dad was telling Coach Taylor "I can't talk about this with you" and then he said how it's "killing" him but "since I'm a dead man anyways"... GAH. That was an amazing scene.
So who's y'all's favorite characters? Any fave moments from the first half of Season 1?
Also please no spoilers for later on. Vague spoilers like "I like Tyra, her arc gets really interesting later on" is cool, but try not to be specific. Though there's two things I already know: Tyra gets together with Landry some point in the future (oh, Landry tutoring Riggs was great!) and the Panthers win State at the end of the first season.