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Friday Night Lights: Pantherama!
(S02E07) For episode seven, "Pantherama!" brings us what I would call an odd and uneven mix of stories. With a host of new and recurring characters (Santiago, Lauren, Noelle, Noah, Jackie, Billy, Mindy) in play, something had to give. That left our old pal Street on the sidelines for this game. While he got a breather though, the Smash finally got a story of his own.
I'll start with the most puzzling part of the episode first, and it came right in the opening. Did everyone else catch that weird edit they made to the scene from last week with Matt and Lauren in the car? I went back and watched that scene from "How Did I Get Here" again, to make sure that I hadn't just totally misread it last week. Nope, they totally changed it. What was a cute and flirtatious discussion that led to Matt finally taking the lead and kissing Lauren somehow became a scheming social climber noticing the ex-girlfriend and initiating the kiss to make her jealous. The ham handed edit was bad enough, but the fact that it completely changes the entire context of the scene is ridiculous. What was the point?
The original scene actually played well into the big car buying adventure. I like the two of them together, and I'm on board to see where it goes, whatever that may be. But this idea that scenes from one week are going to be re-cut to mean something different I don't get. But maybe not getting it is the point, because before you could wrap your head around that, exit Lauren, enter Carlotta. What the heck? Suddenly Matt is the Fonz and he's got more girls than he knows what to do with? I just have no idea what they are doing here.
I thought Tyra's story was also a little odd. This whole story was sold on the fact that it would be worth it for what it does with the Tyra and Landry characters. That's a fine idea, and I'm sure we'll talk more about that in two weeks when Landry's end of the story takes center stage again, but happy-go-lucky strip show choreographer Tyra felt out of place here. I get that Tyra has a harder edge and is street smart, and she is probably more capable than the average person of compartmentalizing and hiding emotions. But show us that. This whole scenario felt out of place, like it belonged after the whole murder affair is settled.
Continuing down the path of less than thrilling stories, we have Julie's latest endeavor in her ongoing quest to give her father a heart attack. I actually liked the idea for the article. It works well with the ongoing story of the difficult teenage daughter, and with the issues caused by Eric's new A.D. gig. A nice touch would have been Julie getting a quote from Bobby Roberts. Where they started to lose me was with the new teacher, Noah. Now, perhaps I'm as guilty as Tami in thinking that there is something a little bit hinky with this student/teacher relationship, without any real evidence. But then, it is becoming something of a pattern here. Tim/Jackie, Julie/Swede, Tyra/Connor, Matt/Carlotta... what is it with grown ups in Dillon? I'm left hoping that Lyla and the Teen Ministry can save them all before they head down that path with Julie and Noah.
Ok, one more oddity before we get to the good stuff. They actually did a nice job of setting up the Tim story earlier as he and Billy bickered about Jackie. Given the way the Riggins house operates, Tim walking out actually fits rather well. The part that just doesn't quite fit for me is that in all of it, any idea that he wants, or is going, to get back on the team is ignored. It was right there at the end of the last episode, where he asked Eric about it. It's almost like the different writers are working in a vacuum. Just strange.
Fortunately, it wasn't all inappropriate relationships and oddly timed plot developments. The Santiago story actually delivered some very good scenes. Although, the success of that story does have more to do with Tami's involvement than it does Santiago's. It was a good example of all the things that make Tami such a great character. She really does care, and she's a strong enough person to call people on their bullshit, even Eric. She was completely right to have her guard up when Eric started in with, "Buddy and I have been talking about the Santiago situation..." That sounded so much like Buddy talking that it clearly wasn't coming from a place that was putting Santiago's welfare first.
Tami did finally relent, and go along with the plan, but only after exhausting all of the other possibilities and making sure that Buddy knows what's expected. Her line from the home inspection, "You have a lot of steak and sausage. Get some vegetables." was very funny. I am curious to see how life at Buddy's works out. It does offer an opening for Buddy to make some real changes, and perhaps we'll see this lead to him getting to go back home later in the season.
Finally, the best part of the episode was the Williams story. And I call it the Williams story because what we saw from Mrs. Williams was just as good, if not better, than everything we saw from Smash. It's interesting that this comes in episode seven, as it was episode seven of season one where we started the steroid angle. This story rings very true considering what we have seen from Smash over the last 29 episodes. He has the confidence of youth, and in his mind the NFL, and the riches it represents, is already a given. College is just a pit stop along the way, so of course he isn't going to even consider Whitmore.
Equally as fitting was the reaction of Mrs. Williams. She has the wisdom and practicality that comes with experience, and while he can't see it, she really does have Smash's best interests in mind. The fact that she brought up what happened to Street was a very telling example of this. I hope that Whitmore stays on the table as a point of discussion for the two of them as they make their way through recruiting. It holds the potential for some great drama.
As good as the two of them were together, my favorite scene of the night was actually the meeting between Eric and Mrs. Williams. Her line about Smash not having a father was perfect. "I'm not asking you to be this boy's daddy. I'm just here to remind you, he doesn't have one." Great stuff. And it got the appropriate reaction from Eric as he is now paying Smash's recruitment the attention that he should have from the start.
| Recruiting with Smash, Mrs. Williams, and Eric | |
|---|---|
| Julie and Noah | |
| Matt and Carlotta | |
| Santiago moving in with Buddy | |
| Tyra and Lyla do Pantherama |
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