Quotable:

"In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is a sign of perfection." - Curnonsky

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Friday Night Lights - Little Girl I Want To Marry You


This episode of Friday Night Lights continues to enforce exactly why I watch this show. Another top notion episode "Little Girl I Want to Marry You" first aired January 24.

It was the night of a million tangential plotlines. The Panthers have to win another game to make the playoffs, which I really thought they already did. The mayor reveals a secret, Tyra gives her mom a lesson in women's empowerment, and Smash gets busted. Oh, and there's the little matter of that proposal.

So Smash's mom finds his drug baggie, syringes and all, while cleaning his room. She marches down to the school and drags her son into Coach's office, where she demands to know what kind of operation Coach is running. Coach assures her he didn't know anything about the drugs, and Coach tells Smash he won't be playing on Friday, but he can't decide whether to kick Smash off the team for good.

Matt's dad gets sent back to Iraq, and Matt fills his time by drawing up some plays he thinks will work in Friday's game. Coach isn't impressed, which shatters Matt's hopes that Coach will give him all the love and encouragement his father never did. Seriously, they're hammering just a wee bit hard on that one.

Buddy sets Lyla up on a date with a college kid, telling her that she's just supposed to help him with some paper he's writing about football and cheerleaders. Jason's totally jealous, and he gets Herc to drive him by the restaurant to peer in the window. Of course Lyla spots them, given that their wheelchairs are clearly visible from the cab of Herc's truck — some spies they make!

Jason then moves on to his second undercover tactic: lurking in the shadows of the Garrity house to confront various members of the family.

Meanwhile, Coach and Tami go to dinner with the mayor and her secret lesbian partner. Gracious me! The mayor asks Tami to work on her re-election campaign, which doesn't sit well with Coach, who hates politics and isn't comfortable with this "alternative lifestyle" business. Tami does it anyway, because that's the kind of sassy woman she is.

Speaking of sassy, Tyra decides to get her mom a job as the secretary at Buddy's auto dealership. Her mom protests that she's allergic to the Garritys and couldn't even get an interview. Tyra asks Riggins to talk to Buddy — and I'm not really sure why that would work, given that Riggins slept with Buddy's daughter and made her the laughingstock of the whole school — but for whatever reason, Buddy decides to give Tyra's mom a chance.

On the way to her interview, they blow a tire, which Tyra's mom decides is God's way of telling her not to take the job. But Tyra pronounces that if they don't change the tire right there, by themselves, they're both doomed. Which seems like a bit much importance to assign to a tire, but OK. Later, Buddy gets one look at Tyra's mom's low-cut top and decides to dump his current secretary and give Tyra's mom the job. I'm not sure what getting a job with your boobs says about empowerment, but: moving on.

The Panthers win the game with one of Matt's plays. Coach then takes Smash to a diner where washed-up high school players go to flip burgers and tells Smash he won't report him if he agrees to get clean and take random drug tests.

And Jason lurks again, waiting for Lyla to come home. He tells her she's beautiful and talented, and she thinks Jason's breaking up with her. Instead, Jason says the magic words: "Lyla Garrity, will you marry me?" She leans in to kiss him, and someone needs to tell that girl that making out is not a yes or no answer.

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