Mark here...Laurel and I have just watched the season one finale of Friday Night Lights, called "State." Laurel made us some Texas-appropriate Armadillo eggs, king ranch casserole and steamed artichokes, all of which were delicious!
This episode was great, a really nice cap off to the season. The premise is that the Panthers are playing the state playoffs. At the same time, Coach Taylor has accepted a job in Austin next year, which is understandably disheartening to the team. Saracen takes it pretty hard considering his father-figure is abandoning him and taking his girlfriend. Tami has decided to stay in Dillon with Julie but they haven't told Julie yet. Also, Tami finds out she's pregnant and Coach's reaction is great. At first you are afraid he will have a negative reaction, but his response is pitch perfect. I attribute it to great actors but also great writing.
Separately Lyla and Tyra have a blow out and come to realize they are not so different. It's nice to see their relationship grow beyond catfight territory. While that's fine for 90210, here it's more entertaining to see the characters grow beyond just hating each other. Landry is still carrying a torch for Tyra that kind of blows up on him in a funny way. He thinks he and Tyra will have a private drive to state when Tyra asks him to come because she has tickets. Unfortunately, her mom and sister show up and then Saracen's grandmother...leading to a very girl-centric trip that's nothing like he imagined.
I'll let Laurel go into the rest, but all in all a very good episode that triggered emotions in the best way!
Totally, Mark is right. Spoiler alert...Panthers win state! So the cliff hangers for season 2 are...Panthers win state, what's gonna happen next year? The episode ends with Jason Street giving the guys a talk about how football is a 365 a year job, so they can enjoy the day but the next day they are back to work. Are they setting us up for Jason being the new head coach next year?!?
The next cliffhanger is Tami is fucking pregnant!!! The last talk we see her and Coach Taylor having, Eric is ready to give up his dreams to stay in Dillon to tend to his new family. You would think that Tami would be ecstatic about this but she is like fuck no, you need to follow your dreams in Austin and I need to follow mine in Dillon! I'm dying to know what happens because I don't remember...
The others are less cliffhangery and just interesting to think about...will Lyla and Tyra become friends? Will Lyla make up with her dad? Will smash transfer to another school to get more visibility? Will Landry and Tyra actually against all odds start dating? Will Matt and Julie stay together? I can't wait to find out!
