Afternoon De-'Lights'

Oops!  That's the first word that comes to mind when I think about Coach Taylor's unfortunate discovery at Saracen's house.  I'm not a parent, but I can imagine that the moment you find out that your daughter isn't your little girl anymore is an emotional one.  Finding it out by walking in on her and her boyfriend (who happens to be on the team you coach) is about as emotionally disturbing as it gets as a parent.  On the other side, I am a daughter and I was incredibly embarrassed for Julie.  Thus, I felt for both Coach Taylor and Jules.  Luckily, Tami saved the day with that kickass talk towards the end.  And once again, Connie Britton broke my heart (she's a very close second to Kristen Bell who always managed to break my heart as Veronica Mars) as she wrapped her head around the realization that her little girl had crossed into some serious adult territory.  The weight of the moment was all over her face, and when she finally broke down, I was very moved.  And remember I'm not a parent.  I also thought that Coach Taylor's controlled response to Matt out on the porch was well done.  You could feel the sweat on Matt's brow and the butterflies in his stomach.  And Coach Taylor's inner anger was palpable too.  Just a nicely done story line.

Like most people, I've read The Giving Tree.  And like most people, I sobbed at the end.  So, I found Landry's parallel between the story and his relationship with Tyra to be very fitting.  Tyra is selfish (like most teenage girls) and she does take advantage of Landry's feelings for her.  Plus, she's too bent on the bad boy type to see that the greatest guy is right in front of her.  But, I'm not giving up hope that she will come to discover the truth.  Until she does, she should stay away from Landry.  She doesn't deserve him yet.  But, I love Tyra, so I'm rooting for her to get things together, wake up and smell the college coffee, and become a better version of herself -- one that knows a good thing when she sees it.  

Elsewhere, I felt bad for Lyla.  She was just talking about going to Vanderbilt (a PRIVATE school that isn't cheap) and now she learns that daddy lost all of the college funds on a bad real estate deal.  To make matters worse, he goes and gets into a brawl at The Landing Strip, winds up in jail, goes to court and learns that he's going to have to pay The Landing Strip $30,000 and he's broke.  And now, Lyla's gone.  At least Buddy Garrity still has Panther football.  If he didn't, I might start to worry about him.

Friday Night Lights is all-new and commercial-free Wednesday nights on DirecTV's 101. The third season will be seen in its entirety early next year on NBC.