Friday Night Lights

In one of my favorite scenes of the night, Eric sits at a bar with Buddy Garrity, who is trying to drown the sorrow of his lost Panthers love. Remember the first season, when Buddy was the Alpha Male of the Panthers boosters? He's come such a long, long way. He tells Eric that he feels sick to not be a Panther anymore. He apologizes to Eric for everything. Eric quietly tells Buddy that he's having some East Dillon alumni over to the house, trying to help the two of them out of their respective funks; Buddy immediately knows what Eric's really saying, and tells Eric flat-out that "you can't fake boosterism. It comes from the heart. That's the beauty of it." Aw, Buddy. Come away from the dark side! Come to the light!

We interrupt this show for a brief physics lesson. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Eric stops by Ray's BBQ and asks Jess' dad if he is actually Bertram Merriweather, QB of the Championship '83 East Dillon Lions. Bertram, for it must indeed be he, politely asks not once, but twice, for Eric's order. Eric introduces himself; Bertram tells him the total for his order. Eric asks if he could rent the place for the Lions pep rally; Bertram declines. Eric invites Bertram to dinner with some other Lions alumni, and Bertram counters by reducing his answers to single syllables (in this case,  "No").  Eric finally just asks Bertram for his help with the team, saying that his experience would mean a lot to the kids; Bertram firmly tells Eric that his order will be up shortly.  I think Jess - who has watched all of this from the back of the kitchen - left the walk-in open, because it is COLD in here, y'all.

Swank SUV of God Complexes. JD (remember him? Panthers QB, offspring of Monty and general skeevy, Entitlement-Dude? Yep, that's him) drives Luke and two Panthers through East Dillon. The two Panthers in the back seat taunt Luke about having his wallet stolen. JD grins and says he knows East Dillon's a prison, but he didn't expect Luke to become someone's bitch. Would someone please tackle this punk already? Luke, whose pride is pretty stung, tells JD to stop when he spots Vince walking on the side of the road.  Vince takes the approach of four beefed-up, aggressive guys in stride: "I see you brought your boyfriends with you to help you look for your wallet." Hee. Now is a good point to notice, btw, that Vince is wearing a blood-red hoodie; Luke is wearing a gold shirt with blue sleeves. It's not official team paraphenalia, but the colors are totally clear. Luke demands his wallet; Vince, munching on some take-out, tells Luke he doesn't know when to quit, which is when Luke SMACKS the plate out of Vince's hands, and Vince totally sucker-punches him. They try to beat the hell out of each other while the Panthers hang back - of course - until a cop car drives by and turns on its lights, and then the Panthers? Are totally outta there, abandoning their so-called friend. Stay classy, JD. It takes two cops to break up the fight, and they're still kicking and lunging at each other when they finally pry them apart.

Chez Taylor. Lions dinner. Three African-American men - one of them a deacon at Bethel Baptist - sit at the dinner table with Eric. The deacon asks why they're all there, and Eric admits that he's struggling with some challenges and problems at their old school. That last bit sets the deacon off, who says that "people from your part of town" always want to point out East Dillon's problems, when it's West Dillon that got developed, got the malls, and got all the money. "We appreciate your hospitality, but I think I'm gonna skip that lecture about 'our problems'." Not to say that you don't have some valid points, but way to lay all your issues out over dinner, deacon! Tami scrambles to defuse the situation, calmly talking about how that certainly must be frustrating, and her husband's here to help those boys in any way he can, etc. Even she is falling short, though, so it's all looking pretty dire until the doorbell rings. Eric can't stop from flinching when he hears Tami say hello to Buddy Garrity, but everyone else at the table has a different response: they almost call hello to him, beaming and shaking his hand in turn, and Buddy beams joyfully at the sight of them and calls each one by name. Eric finally realizes that the tide is turning, and smiles. God bless you, Buddy.

Gay bar! There are two words I never thought I'd type in an FNL recap. Devon's not sure what she expected, but she likes the lighting, which cracks Julie up. Jules starts to talk about her troubles with Matt until she realizes that Devon's not listening - she's smiling at the brunette across the bar. "Is that your type?!?" Julie says. Devon goes to powder her nose, and after she leaves, Julie sees STALKER COACH playing pool at the bar. She waves at him with an awkward smile, and he drops his pool cue and heads out of the bar like it just caught fire. Now, I did not expect THAT. Well played, FNL. This will be a very interesting storyline.

Chez Taylor, post-dinner. Coach and Tami cuddle on the couch and talk about the dinner's success. Coach thanks his lovely wife, who tells him that the real thanks go to Buddy. The phone rings; it's the police. Down at the station, a cop tells Coach that Vince is going to juvie as a result of the fight - Luke has no record, so he's fine. Coach pleads with the cop to let him speak to the boys, and once he's in their cell, he lays down the law: Luke is going to take all the blame for the fight, Vince will cut the "tough-guy crap", and they'll do exactly as he says. It must work, because later that night Coach takes them both to the East Dillon stadium. He tells them that they can take this chance "or piss it away", and if they do the latter, they'll regret it forever - and then he throws them out of the SUV. Yay! It's like "Wind Sprints" from S1, when he left Riggins on the side of the road. Vince seems shocked that Coach actually left them, and the two boys start walking home together. It takes a few moments for Vince to thank Luke... and then he hands Luke his wallet. Luke huffs, but takes it. Aw.