“The March” is a perfect example of why I love Friday Night Lights. “The March” beautifully, painfully, even humorously, tells the story of the Dillon residents that we’ve come to know over five seasons. Let there be no doubt– we care about these people and what happens in their lives.
“The March” is appropriately titled to match the East Dillon football team’s march to the State Championship. In a nice use of quickened storytelling, the playoff season expires in this one episode. From the Lions’ first game against West Cambria to their semifinal win over Arnett Meade, the Lions are headed to State. Watching the Lions embrace their journey with verve– well, shoot I wanted to run in place at Coach’s house and then the Riggins house to give a Samoan tribal yell too. It felt right. It felt right to see Vince leading his team and enjoying their company rather than the brief-hubris addiction he fell under with his father’s Division I recruiting dreams. And while I’m mentioning Vince, I have to say that at the end of the episode when he was looking for his mother… We, as viewers, were searching too Vince. Bravo to writer Rolin Jones for addressing Regina’s sobriety. Seeing her struggle and make the right choice to attend a meeting rather than the semifinal game gave a weight to Regina that we haven’t seen much of this season. We wanted to find her too, Vince, and were relieved to find her well and waiting. Seeing the two of them embrace was the perfect ending to a lively return to Dillon for the Lions. Energetically exiting their bus to the sounds of “Champion Angel” by The Low Anthem was a perfect celebratory moment for these hard-scrabble kids. And the site of their celebration had to be the appropriately hard-scrabble Carroll Park. The power plant and the park have never looked so good!
One of my favorite moments from tonight’s episode involved Coach Taylor and Jess Merriweather. Despite Coach Crowley’s dismissal of Jess’s football coaching aspirations, Eric’s offer to Jess to allow her to shadow him, was equal parts funny and sweet. Daggone, if we don’t love Eric Taylor. He bumbles and fumbles and gets so easily flustered, but he loves all of his East Dillon children. And Jess, he realizes, loves football as much as he does. I just smile at the thought of Jess becoming a Taylor assistant coach in a few years. If he can weather Stan Traub and Billy Riggins, Jess Merriweather will be a revelation on the sidelines. In fact, of all the father-figure roles Eric Taylor has filled, it is his relationship with Jess that has been most surprising and endearing this season. In the episode “Gut Check,” as Jess cries over her breakup with Vince, Coach reminds her that he has two daughters and to take as much time as she needs. It’s not effusive, but it’s classic Eric Taylor.
If last week’s episode was Buddy Garrity’s, then this week’s episode was certainly Tim Riggins’s. At one point I said, “God damn” out loud as I watched Taylor Kitsch hit even deeper, more salient levels of emotion with the our favorite fallen football star. I don’t write ‘favorite’ in any sarcastic way, but to note that viewers are invested in what happens to Tim. We still harbor tension towards Billy for allowing Tim to take the fall. Tonight, as Billy is on his knees in the parking lot of the Landing Strip alone and crying, there’s no empathy or even sympathy. If anything, there’s apathy for his cavalier attitude moments earlier about having no complaints about the life he, his pregnant wife, his brother, and boarder are living. When Mindy cried out to Tim, “You’re different,” there was a bit of a sneer at her low blow. The Riggins family clusterf*ck isn’t funny any more. We’ve reached our limit. And thank goodness Tim has had enough of it too. Taylor Kitsch is one damn fine actor. A few months back I got a bit irritated with a student that went on and on about how ‘hot’ Kitsch is. The actor in me came out and I immediately commented about his craft. It goes without saying that Friday Night Lights has been blessed with fine, fine actors. Has there been a better cadre in television? I don’t think so. Kitsch continues to impress with the ways in which he adds depth to his n’er do well doppelganger. Among Kitsch’s finer FNL moments was tonight’s fight at the Landing Strip over Becky. Hearing him yell, “She’s 17! She’s 17! A high school junior!” was gut-wrenching. So desperate to save Becky, we couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if someone, anyone would’ve fought like that for Tim three years earlier. Perhaps, Tim realized that only he was going to be able to save himself. Even his greatest supporters along the way, have left him to fend for himself. And so he leaves the Riggins house with Becky watching that beat-up Chevy truck drive away. He returns to the old airstream trailer where he began to live on his own over a year before. Anger spilling out of his pores, he turns on the radio to catch the garbled news of the Lions victory. Forget God Bless Texas. God Bless Tim Riggins.
“The March” ends with Coach Taylor mimicking Vince’s search for his mother. Only Eric is searching for his wife. Tami has missed the semifinal game because of an interview at Philadelphia’s Braemore College. All of the travails with students like Epyck, budget concerns with the Board of Education, unsupportive colleagues and the like, have led up to this moment– Dillon is now a place that the Taylors can see themselves leaving. At the very least, it’s a place that Tami seems ready to leave. We shall see what the final two (two!!) episodes have in store for the Taylors. No matter the decision, it’s not going to be an easy one. The writing is on the proverbial wall, a change is going to come to Dillon.
Damn, I love this show.
Grade: A+
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Cast & Credits
Friday Night Lights, Wednesdays 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central, DirecTV
Eric Taylor: Kyle Chandler
Tim Riggins: Taylor Kitsch
Tami Taylor: Connie Britton
Vince Howard: Michael B. Jordan
Regina Howard: Angela Rawna
Becky Sproles: Madison Burge
Official website: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/friday_night_lights/overview