I was living in a devil town
Didn’t know it was a devil town
Oh Lord, it really brings me down
About the devil town
And all my friends were vampires
Didn’t know they were vampires
Turns out I was a vampire myself
In the devil town
I was living in a devil town
Didn’t know it was a devil town
Oh Lord, it really brings me down
About the devil town
Friday Night Lights fans are very familiar with this song. We hear it for the first time in Season One as the State Champion Dillon Panthers drive down the center of town for a celebratory parade. Each player and the loved ones who have supported him are featured in nicely pieced moments along the parade route. In “Texas Whatever,” the song plays as the Dillon School Board votes 5-2 to eliminate the East Dillon football program. Talk about living off the blood of another, the Panthers are indeed vampires in this devil town.
“Texas Whatever” is a difficult episode if simply for the fact that it is the next to last episode for the entire Friday Night Lights series. Penultimate. There’s only one left. At the end of the episode, I said out loud, “That’s it?” I was agog that more hadn’t been resolved. But of course, what did I expect. Well, truthfully, I am hoping that Jason Katims, Peter Berg, and the entire FNL crew have figured out that pesky time-space continuum, so that they can allow Friday Night Lights to continue on, forever, without the confines of television schedules and the like. I’m a dreamer.
“Texas Whatever” begins with Tami’s return from Philadelphia to a sleeping Eric and oldest daughter Julie, who’s home for winter break. We quickly break from the idyllic Taylor homefront to a short but powerful scene where Tim Riggins, still reeling from the trauma of jail time, awakes in a nightmarish state. Out of breath and high on adrenaline, he throws his mattress and bedding outside. One can only imagine that confined spaces and anger created a suffocating evening for Tim. Luckily, Riggins finds peace sooner, rather than later, at the hands of former flame Tyra Collette. Lord, have we missed Tyra. We never knew how much until she saunters back into Tim’s life at the bar. Recognizing Tyra’s voice brings the slightest smile to Tim’s face. When she tells a customer to “Move!,” we smile broadly. We’ve missed you Miss Collette.
Tyra and Tim have always had an understanding . Despite broken hearts and immaturity, they have always know something about one another that noone else has. Their hard scrabble lives bonded the two in a way that Lyla Garrity and Landry Clarke could never acheive with Tim and Tyra, respectively. Therefore it is Tyra that has the best chance at chipping away at the anger Tim swims in. Tyra hasn’t come to Dillon to save, rescue, or cure Tim. Given her lack of trips back home (only one since her nephew was born the year before), we can only infer that this is simply a holiday trip. No matter the cause, she quickly knows that her friend Tim needs her, and perhaps she needs him too.
In a nice scene between friend Tyra and Julie Taylor, Tyra confesses that everything is “harder when you really love someone.” She looks off into the distance and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was thinking of Landry. But soon, we all find out that she’s been thinking about Tim. Earlier in the day, Tim confesses to Tyra that he took the fall for Billy. Her mental dialogue is clear as she looks at Tim. Equal parts pity, adoration, and shock, she cannot imagine doing something like that for someone, anyone. So when Tyra returns to the bar, it is to confirm to Tim that love made him take the fall for Billy. A love that was a result of Billy’s love for his younger brother. When their parents abandoned the boys, Billy sacrificed his life for Tim. Love is what the Riggins brothers are really about, despite every sign to the contrary. Love. As she walks to her truck, Tim follows, desperately asking her not to go. The silent bond these two share is apparent in this moment. As Tyra listens to Tim’s plea, there’s no dread, no hesitation, no cloying, only honesty. It just so happens that Tim’s mattress and pillows make their way back inside the airstream that night… The following morning Tyra has Tim take her to his land, where she appropriately questions his intent to sell the land and move to work the Alaskan pipeline. “Alaska, Tim?” she asks in that Tyra way and Tim smiles at her, the crazy prospect of moving, and at himself. That smile reminds us of how much we’ve missed Tim, too.
We’ve also missed Matt Saracen and his grandmother. Although we got to spend time with Matt and Julie and few episodes back, it’s Matt and Lorraine Saracen that are the real couple we worry about. As Matt surprises his grandmother with a Christmas tree, we realize that she’s not doing well. In fact, she appear to be much worse than when we last saw her. She asks Matt about his deceased father and seems completely unaware that it’s Christmas. In Matt’s way, he smiles through the pain and provides the answers that will help his grandmother enjoy this all too brief moment of lucidity.
As much as this episode provides much needed reunions with our favorite characters, it is also wrought with hardship. As Friday Night Lights has proven over the years, sweetness is always tempered by the bitter. There are two crucial decisions to be made in our Dillon-verse. The first relates to the football programs of the Dillon Independent School District. Due to budget concerns, described as the worst ever, one team will be cut. With the Lions on their way to the State Championship game we know they’ll be the one to be eliminated. Rationale and logic are not the strong suit of Dillon school administrators. The way Tami was summarily hazed and harassed last season is just a reminder of the screwed up decisions they normally make in Dillon. As the strains of Tony Lucca’s “Devil Town” begin to play, the haggard and frustrated and new Superintendent announces the decision to keep the Panthers rather than the Lions. “Those sons-of-bitches…” Eric Taylor isn’t the only one to feel that way.
In a lovely moment hearkening back to the Panthers we once loved, Vince, Luke, Dallas, Hastings, and Buddy Jr. all convene on the Lions home field. These knights of East Dillon’s King Taylor reflect on how important that field and one another have been to these young men. Dallas Tinker plunks down on the 50 yard line emblazoned with a red “L” and proceeds to cut part of the turf. “I’m going plant this grass in my front yard and keep it forever,” he explains. Vince quickly asks him to cut him a portion as well. Something, anything from this place is better than nothing. Despite Coach Taylor telling Vince that he will “shine” as QB1 of the Dillon Panthers, the reference to Camelot is not lost on us. East Dillon is the land of legend for these young men.
The enormity of the loss of football at EDHS pales in comparison to the foundation-rocking events in the Taylor household. One of the interesting notes about “Texas Whatever” is that the episode was directed by Kyle Chandler. Bravo to Chandler for allowing his alter ego to receive the full-brunt of disappointment and disgust Tami throws his way. Tami has be offered a job as the Dean of Admissions at a small college in Philadelphia and wants the family to move to Pennsylvania so that she can accept the position. We get that Eric is preparing for the most important game of the year, but as Tami consistently reminds him, she has put everything on the back burner for nearly 20 years so that Eric could pursue every one of his dreams. Early on in the Tami-Eric tug-of-war Eric asks her if she’s rooting against ‘us.’ Eric, disappointingly informs Tami that the ‘us’ he’s referring to is East Dillon. As Tami painfully points out, “Oh I thought the ‘us’ was you and me, ‘us.’” Unfortunately, the piece of information we’ve always know about Eric comes into perfect relief– he wants things done his way, even if that means causing those he loves some measure of pain. I’ve been rewatching a lot of the old episodes recently and rewatching the season two opener reminded me of just how cruel Eric has been at times. Telling Tami that he ‘has’ to go back to TMU despite promises that he would be there with her and their newborn daughter, was painful to watch. Connie Britton’s anguish and stifled sobs makes the anger we see in her now, so completely understandable.
After the announcement that the Lions will be disbanded, Eric learns that the powers that be (the Panther Football Boosters) want Eric back as coach of the Panthers. When he drunkenly tells Tami the news, she offers a chilling assessment of the inequities in their marriage: “I’m gonna say to you what you haven’t had the grace to say to me. Congratulations, Eric.” Tami grabs her boots, her purse, and her pride and leaves Eric to steep in alcohol and arrogance. In a final insult to their marriage, at the end of the episode Buddy and the Panther Booster cronies come to pay a late-night call on the Taylors. Instead of telling them to come back in the morning, Eric invites them in, in a blatant power play over Tami. Hell hath no fury Eric Taylor, lest you forget. Tami, quietly looks at him and says “Eighteen years,” hearkening back to her reminder to Eric that she’s been a football coach’s wife and all that entails for eighteen years. Then in a way only Tami Taylor could, she walks past Eric asking Buddy et al, “Can I get you anything? Iced Tea? Water?” in the most chillingly cordial voice possible.
Like the football games we’ve watched over these last five seasons, Friday Night Lights has 60 minutes to grab a piece of magic. I’ll be watching with Applebee’s and an Alamo Freeze blizzard with jimmies for old time’s sake, and cursing myself for falling in love with that damn devil town.
Grade: A
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Cast & Credits
Friday Night Lights, Wednesdays 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central, DirecTV
Eric Taylor: Kyle Chandler
Tami Taylor: Connie Britton
Tim Riggins: Taylor Kitsch
Tyra Collette: Adrianne Palicki
Vince Howard: Michael B. Jordan
Jess Merriweather: Jurnee Smollett
Official website: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/friday_night_lights/overview