During the offseason, we are continuing our weekly series discussing thoughts on arguably the best football TV show ever in Friday Night Lights. If you haven’t seen it, there is no better time to start. If you have seen it, there’s no better time to rewatch it. And if you’re like me, and watch an episode or season every year in preparation for college football, you’re right on track. Regardless of which category you fit into, it’s on Netflix (and Peacock), and you can follow along each week (on a Friday, of course) as a different episode from season five will be discussed, from looking at how the East Dillon Lions will fare in year two under Coach Taylor all the way through the series finale.
### **Random thoughts in live-tweet form.**
* The season opens with snapshots of Dillon. Life appears normal. The football players are training, Julie is getting ready for college, and Buddy is on the radio discussing how excited he is about the Lions.
* Billy visits Tim in prison, showing pictures of his kid. Tim has about three months left if he continues to have good behavior.
* Billy says Riggins Riggs is going well, but he wants to get into coaching as well. Tim isn’t as excited as Billy wants him to be.
* Billy says he doesn’t let a day go by without thinking about what Tim did for him.
* Principal Burnwell is going through the budget and line items and announces Tami as the school’s new guidance counselor.
* The teachers start complaining about students and Tami is taken aback.
* Vince and Jess are hanging out with Jess’ siblings. We learn her dad has been gone awhile, but is due back this weekend.
* Becky’s dad is packing up to leave for a job. We learn her mom has gone off to work on a casino boat, and she’s been living with her dad and stepmom. No one seems excited about the arrangement.
* Landry and his band are rehearsing. We learn they are playing one more show before he leaves for college.
* Buddy drags Eric down to the basketball courts, saying Vince needs another receiver to throw to. They find a kid down there, Hastings Ruckle, who can run, catch, and jump. Buddy is excited about him and Eric is intrigued.
* Hastings says he has never played football and doesn’t want to deal with football players and the negative aspects of it. Eric tries to convince him of the positive aspects.
* Tami is going over her new students and is overwhelmed by how big of a project it will be.
* All the Taylor’s are getting a bit sad that Julie is leaving.
* Principal Burnwell rains on Tami’s parade, saying their budget is limited for all the ideas she has.
* At the BBQ shack, we learn Jess’ dad was supposed to open one new place in Dallas, but now is opening three and won’t be coming back anytime soon. Jess is upset that their kids won’t have their dad in their lives during this time.
* Landry stops by to see Grandma Saracen to say goodbye. She says Matt still calls her every week. They both say how much they miss him. We learn Landry is going to Rice.
* Becky is feeding her stepsister and her stepmom comes in saying she’s feeding her wrong and the pieces are too big. Becky says she shouldn’t smoke in the house. Things aren’t going well.
* Tami is making house calls at night and it seems as difficult as pulling teeth.
* Julie is leaving family dinner early to see Landry’s band play. Tami and Eric are upset.
* At the party, Luke works on persuading Hastings. Vince asks Jess for help, saying she needs to use her charm. Jess shoots it to him straight and calls him scared before letting him stew on that.
* Landry and Julie hang out after the concert, drinking and reminiscing. Matt comes up, and we learn Matt and Julie are not together. Landry says he wants his last night to be epic, so Julie takes him to the Landing Strip, saying goodbye before heading home.
* Eric waits up for Julie and they decide to have a championship ping-pong game.
* Tami tells Levi (the Principal) she has had four no-shows today and is discouraged. Levi tells him not to be.
* Becky’s stepmom is on the phone with her dad. It’s clear her dad won’t be home soon. Her stepmom isn’t happy Becky went out last night and tells him she’s his problem and he needs to fix it.
* Vince is over and tries to reason with Jess’ brother, who is having a hard time without parents around. Vincy is able to relate, saying he hasn’t seen his dad in five years. Vince tells Dre his dad will be back, but he needs to step up and be the man of the house. Jess watches from a distance.
* Becky arrives at Billy’s house, saying she needs a place to stay. Billy takes her in, while Mindy isn’t too happy.
* Julie takes off for college, driving herself. She has a tearful goodbye with her parents before leaving.
### **Coach Taylor’s speeches.**
### **Football observations.**
* The East Dillon coaching staff all have red hats and gray polo shirts, signifying their budget is better than last season.
* Coach Taylor is already frustrated with the radio hype and the coaching staff being a bit underprepared for practice.
* Billy goes to an interview with Coach Taylor for the job. Billy says he wants the job really bad and it’s not just about the money, he wants to be a better man and learn from Coach Taylor. Coach Taylor agrees to bring him on.
* Billy gives a speech at his first practice and it goes on longer than Coach Taylor would like.
* There are about twice as many players on the team as last year, from the looks of things.
* Coach Taylor calls Vince and Luke over and tells them to recruit Hastings to the team.
* Hastings ends up joining the team on the bus for their first game, having not practiced at all yet.
* The Lions play the reigning state champs in their opening game as a huge underdog.
* The Cowboys are up 21-0 early on, getting picked apart on passes.
* The Lions take the ball and the WRs keep dropping the ball for Vince. However, he takes off and runs for a touchdown with no one able to touch him.
* Then, the defense comes up big with an interception. Luke makes a huge hit on the return, hitting and injuring their QB.
* With the Cowboys’ QB out, the Lions pounce on the opportunity, with a strip sack for a TD.
* Late in the 4th and down by 7, Hastings tells Coach Taylor he used to play basketball against a kid on the other team and he knows he can out-jump him. Coach Taylor puts him in.
* Hastings has no idea where to stand, so Vince lines him up and tells him where to go. He makes a throw and hits Hastings in the end zone.
* The Lions go for two and run the Statue of Liberty, with Vince handing off to Luke (with a Boise State-style handoff) for the conversion. They pull off a huge upset, and while they got a break with the injured QB, they are clearly a better team than last year and believe in themselves.
### **Unanswered questions.**
* It seems to be a huge deal that Hastings is playing football when he’s known as a basketball player. Tami questions Eric recruiting the basketball player for football. Coach Taylor tells Vince and Luke to recruit him, but he doesn’t want to know what they do. Then, as Hastings is getting on the bus, Coach Crowley tells Coach Taylor everyone is fine, they just change basketball to football and then they are good when he enrolls on Monday.
* The basketball coach is upset, and Coach Taylor tells Hastings he can play both, but can’t start basketball until the football playoffs are over.
### **Plot holes.**
### **Quote of the episode.**
“You live in Texas now. You _love_ the game of football. You just don’t know it yet.” - Coach Taylor
_Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t Lose. official counter: 27_
_Texas Forever official counter: 11_
_Riggins quitting the team official counter: 4? (didn’t quit but is ditching practice for a bit)_
_Coach Taylor calling Landry ‘Lance’ official counter: 12_
_Jason’s job aspirations:_ _quad-rugby player,_ _football coach__,_ _car salesman__,_ _flipping houses__, sports agent_