Friday Night Lights: How the Other Half Live

Posted by: Sarah Miller  •  January 31, 2009 @ 1:49am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

This week: the Riggins brothers have got 99 problems, Buddy and Mr. McCoy continue to try to persuade Coach to start J.D. and the Panthers have a game against Arnett Mead on Friday. The Panthers never beat Arnett Mead.

Billy Riggins is having money problems. It seems that being engaged to one of the Collette girls is pricey, and he doesn't want to lose face by asking Mama Collette to pick up the tab. To top it all off, he's lost his wing-man in his scheme to steal some copper wire. It ain't easy bein' a Riggins.

Tim is having problems because his lady can't seem to get along with the Collettes. Lyla doesn't want to come over on Friday night because she thinks that Mindy and Angela hate her. Tim offers to run interference for her, and thinks everything will be fine. But then Lyla laughs at Mindy's wedding vows (borrowed from Dorie in Finding Nemo) because she thinks they're a joke. Unfortunately, Billy's sketchy business associates show up at precisely the wrong moment and Tim gets distracted and isn't there to throw the block. The evening ends with Lyla and the Collette girls all storming off. Them Riggins' brothers have some women troubles, too.

Against his better judgment, Tim agrees to fill in as wingman and help Billy steal the copper wire. The two of them head off during the big panther party at the McCoy's. They manage to get the copper wire despite the dogs and the cops and Billy even talks Tim into stealing three extra giant spool thingies (technical term) so that he'll have enough money to start a small business.

But because of this little money making endeavor, Tim didn't make it to the McCoy's big party and Lyla had to go all by herself and get a ride from her dad. When he comes over to apologize after the party, Lyla tells Tim that everyone keeps telling her what a bad guy she is and she's a little tired of sticking up for him. Tim says he's not a bad guy, but Lyla begs him not to make a fool out of her.

Mr. McCoy has been doing his best to bully Coach into letting J.D. play on Friday night. He's flown in a specialty quarterback coach from Dallas and keeps trying to convince Coach to switch to a spread offense. Coach keeps reminding everyone that who starts at quarterback is his decision, but even Mac thinks that J.D. needs to take some snaps. Buddy and Wade and Mr. McCoy ambush Coach at the BBQ, but Coach stands his ground. Nobody puts Coach Taylor in a corner.

Speaking of the BBQ: Tami is expected to throw the annual big party for all the football players and the boosters, and she's not happy about it. She suggests to Coach that maybe it would be a good idea to hold the party somewhere else, but he isn't crazy about the idea. It's their responsibility as the Coach & Coach's wife. Plus, if he's gonna hang out with Buddy and all the boosters he wants it to be on his turf.

Tami meets Mrs. McCoy at the butcher's when she's trying to pick up the ribs for the party. Side Note: there's a really funny moment where the butcher says "Look Lady..." and Tami interrupts him and is all like "First of all, don't call me lady, I hate that..." Tami Taylor is my hero. Anyway, Katy McCoy oh-so-sweetly offers to help Tami fundraise for the school, and when Tami confides in her about how difficult hosting the BBQ has been she jumps at the chance to take it off Tami's hands. Coach is less than please with the idea of the McCoys hosting the BBQ, he thinks that Katy only offered to throw the BBQ to help her husband convince Coach to let J.D. play. From his point of view the McCoy's are trying to undermine Coach's authority.

But the McCoys end up throwing the party anyway, and it is totally over the top, complete with caterers, valet parking and a chocolate fountain. Katy whisks Tami off as soon as the Taylors arrive, and Coach is left to fend for himself with everyone who is trying to get him to switch quarterbacks. Everyone is having a good time at the party except for Coach. When they get home from the party, the Taylors have a little heart to heart about who they each have to be for each other as the Coach's wife and the Principal's husband.

Meanwhile, Smash's Mama is taking some extra shifts on the weekends to help pay for University. He doesn't like it cuz the Smash likes to think he's the man of the house. When the regional manager of Alamo Freeze comes by and offers him a new position with a $10, 000 raise and a company car and Smash wants to take it. He tells his Mom he isn't going to his walk-on trial next week but Mama won't let him. She tells him that she didn't have kids so that they could take care of her, and he's going to college, scholarship or no. She says he can pay her back once he graduates.

While Mr. McCoy's persuasion techniques are simply an annoyance to Coach Taylor, they really seem to be taking their toll on Matt Saracen. Matt is frustrated with having to see J.D.'s picture splashed all over the magazines and his cheerleading section at every practice. It's a good thing Julie is around to distract him. The two of them have a great time flirting and making fun of J.D.'s trophy room at the BBQ until J.D. catches them. What was once awkwardness between Matt and J.D. has turned into...even more awkwardness.

Matt takes a beating on Friday night, but plays his heart out and manages to connect with Tim Riggins a few times. Unfortunately, Arnett Mead is running the spread offense and it seems to be working for them. But Matt's tenacity keeps the Panthers in the game until the last two minutes when the Panthers are down by four and Matt gets tackled in the end zone and loses control of the ball...and the Panthers lose. Poor Matty, he gave it all he had. The silver lining is that Julie waits for Matt after the game and walks home with him. She tells him that they don't have to talk about football. Score one for Team Saracen.

Even though they played hard and Matt did everything he could, you know next week Coach is still going to have to answer questions from Buddy and Mr. McCoy about why he didn't play J.D. or switch to the spread offense. When the Taylor's arrive home after the game, someone has stuck a bunch of For Sale signs in their front lawn.

Tags: Friday Night Lights, How the Other Half Live

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