'Friday Night' Consequences

Tim Riggins must be bent on making a liar out of me. I was just writing about how I felt that he was a good kid deep down and then he has to go and steal his former roommate's three grand! I know, he needed to make a mortgage payment, but it doesn't justify his risky (at best) decision to swipe the money while he was getting his stuff back. And yet, I'm still poised to declare him a good kid. There in lies the excellent dichotomy of this intricate show. All of the characters have positive and negative traits that make them more complex and more human. No one is good or bad because everyone has both in them. Tim is a classic example because no matter how badly he screws up, you can't hate him. In fact, I find myself feeling sorry for him. Disappointed, but sorry too. He just needs someone to guide him, and that someone was supposed to be Coach Taylor until Julie had to go and spoil that plan (things do look to be back on track after this week's outing, though).

I read a recent letter in TV Guide from a viewer complaining about all of the "sex" and "drinking" in this season of Friday Night Lights. But, what this viewer failed to recognize was that the heart of this show rests on its ability to demonstrate that all actions have consequences. These kids don't get away with the "sex" and "drinking" like the kids on One Tree Hill or The O.C. and to simply lump it together with those shows or to wave it off as "another teen drama" is vastly unfair. Thus, Julie's drunken night out will not go unpunished now that her father knows the truth (the guilt is already setting in as she reads the disappointment on his face) and Tim's theft will come back to bite him as well. For his sake, I hope it's the police who come knocking on his door and not his meth addict ex-roomie! Elsewhere, my faves Tyra and Landry were MIA this week, but I did enjoy the increased Tami and Eric time. And boy did that mean coach's revelation about his dying wife take the wind out of my sails. I was all fired up about him tackling Tim on the field. No one touches one of Coach Taylor's players!

Photos courtesy nbc.com