Friday Night Lights': Should we be worried about the show's new
direction?
Oct 5, 2007, 11:00 PM | by Pop Watch
Categories: Mini TV Watch, Television
Fnl_l From EW editor-at-large Ken Tucker:
If you're reading this, you probably love Friday Night Lights and
watched its blessed second-season return last night. All the scenes
between Kyle Chandler's Coach Taylor (pictured) and Connie Britton's
new-mom Tami were terrific, as is the idea of having Minka Kelly's
Lyla dive more deeply into her Evangelical faith, in part to escape
the pain of her romantic relation****ps and her parents' separation.
This was Friday Night Lights at its best, and the show's much-
discussed-by-fans-and-producers decision to de-emphasize the football
games didn't feel forced to me.
But now for the tricky question: As much as you love Lights, did
anything about it make you a little nervous, a little unsettled? In
the halls of EW, some of us are cautiously worried that last night's
most harrowing subplot -the accidental killing of Tyra's (Adrianne
Palicki) creepy stalker by Landry (Jesse Plemons) - may be sending the
series down a path of excessive melodrama that is at odds with all the
beautifully subtle drama we love about this show.
On one level, the plot-turn is faithfully following what came before:
Last season, we saw Tyra nearly raped by this thug, and we know that
Landry - who may look at Tyra like a besotted puppy-dog but can snarl
like a junkyard dawg if anyone bothers her - would do anything to
protect her. But having Landry kill this guy and dump his body in the
river (if, in fact, that's what he did - lots of artful editing in
those scenes...) instead of bringing the body to the hospital and
re****ting the incident to the local police? (Remember last season,
when Tami had Tyra re****t the stalker's attack on her to the cops?
Wouldn't that lay the groundwork for, I don't know, justifiable
homicide?)
More broadly speaking: Does this throw Friday Night Lights into a
realm of doomed-lovers-fated- by-murder that pushes the show in a
direction that can lead to a more hyped-up, less meticulous drama than
the one we admire so much? Do you think the producers have ginned up
this subplot to lure new viewers who'll be attracted to a fla****er,
more florid storyline? Don't get me wrong - I am fully committed to
Lights for as long as NBC will air it. But I can't say I'm not a
little worried about the best show too many people aren't watching. I
want the team to keep on cheering, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't
lose!" - not "...can't lose ratings!" How about you?
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