Review: ‘Friday Night Lights’
There was a period of time when I watched the Friday Night Lights series every summer for about four or so years. Then there were times I watched it during other parts of the year. I haven’t watched any show as much as I’ve watched FNL. There was something about the realism and rawness of this show that drew me to it. Well, that and football. Y’all know how I feel about stories centered around sports.
But Friday Night Lights is about so much more than football. It’s about feeling like you’re never going to be good enough for anything because of your circumstances. It’s about wanting more for yourself and believing in your dreams. It will inspire you. But it’s also about how bad things still happen to good people, and what you do when those bad things happen to you.
I just want to be clear that these thoughts are centered around the television show and not the movie. I’ve only seen the film once but I’d like to revisit it again. Heck, maybe I’ll write a piece down the road about that one but for now, I want to talk about this show that I love so dearly.
When the show begins, you’re introduced to the town of Dillon, Texas and their high school football team lead by Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler). It’s Coach Taylor’s first year at the school and he has the all-star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) to thank for that. This town LOVES football, I mean it lives and breathes the dang sport. But I think it’s pretty common knowledge that this is true of the whole state of Texas in real life. Coach Taylor is under extreme pressure to lead this team to the state championship or else he and his family will be sent packing. Not a joke. But the Dillon Panthers are looking pretty darn good at the start of the season and the whole town is already banking on that flashy state ring. Unfortunately, all their high hopes and dreams come crashing down when Jason injures himself in the first game and becomes paralyzed from the waist down. He will never walk again.
The camera work and directing of this show is unlike anything I have ever seen. I mean, it’s kind of brilliant. There are a lot of handheld shots, simplistic sequences, and nothing that seems staged in the slightest. This shooting approach really adds a realistic tone to the story. It makes you feel like you’re right there in the thick of it with the characters — like it’s real life and these are real problems that could happen to you. Usually, there are some soft instrumentals playing in the background that give you the feels too. I appreciate a nice ambiance.
So the pilot really sets the tone for the first season. Will they or won’t they still make it to the state championship? But what this show does is magnify the lives of each of its central characters, and brings real-life struggles to the forefront alongside this football predicament. The series wasn’t afraid to touch on serious topics such as racism, sexism, financial troubles and sexual assault. Pretty ballsy for a show that premiered way before public discussion of these topics was normal in society like we see today. Because FNL explores these realistic avenues, I found myself relating to some of these characters and their stories, especially watching as a teenager at the time it was on the air. Oh what a wonderful time that was. I like to think that viewers are more drawn to stories that they can relate to. Not to say that people don’t love fantasy and thrillers because we absolutely do too, but when we connect with a story on a personal level it draws us in, don’t you think?
We were blessed with five seasons of Friday Night Lights. Although, the show almost wrapped after its second season (what a tragedy that would have been). Only a few of the main characters stay on for all the seasons, one of them being the infamous bad boy Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). Believe me when I say that no character will make you laugh as hard as Tim Riggins. NO ONE. And his character development is an emotional rollercoaster. The relationship between Coach Taylor and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) also provides some comic relief and both Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton go on to receive Emmy nominations for their performances (Kyle Chandler actually wins an Emmy). Although it’s a rather low-key cast, the actors deserve a lot of praise for their performances. You also have to give credit to the writers, directors, and crew too. This series would not be as wonderful as it is without each of its moving pieces. It all meshes together quite beautifully.
You can stream the series Friday Night Lights now on Hulu.
