Thursday, February 4, 2010

Review: 'Friday Night Lights' - 'Laboring'

(S04E12) Facing the Lions, Coach Taylor said the word of the week was focus. He was wrong. The word of the week was choice. Everybody seemed to be facing impossible choices.

Bigger than right or wrong, yes or no, play or don't play. In this penultimate episode of 'Friday Night Lights,' the problems were everywhere, but solutions -- unfortunately -- were hard to come by. More on the big game, toothpicks, apologies and Habitat for Humanities after the jump.

The anticipation for the game between the Panthers and the Lions has been building for weeks. Buddy's obsessiveness should have been a tip-off that it was never going to be "just a football game." After the field issues were supposedly settled, nastiness escalated from pranks to destruction and Eric got the fuzzy end of that lollipop.

The Lions will not have home field advantage, but considering they've rarely won a game this season at home or away, does it matter? It will be a miracle if they win. All the pep talks in the world won't heal Luke's bum hip, and how could anyone expect Vince's head to be in the game with the death of Calvin haunting him.

Tami's troubles have erupted into a potential game changer for the Taylors. If she doesn't knuckle under and apologize for the Becky situation -- and she shouldn't have to because she didn't do a damn thing wrong -- her career will be over. If she loses her job, the Taylors may not remain in Dillon. How could they? She'd never get another job. This is a no-win situation for Tami. Eric knows it, too. The lawyer put it succinctly when he told she could always fight back a wrongful termination lawsuit, assuming she was fired. It would take years, but she could do it. Yeah, "There's law and there's life." The Taylors need a life.

Vince was ready to flush his life away to avoid being a "little bitch" and to avenge Calvin's death. What made him decide to get out the car and leave the gun behind? It might have been Jess's pleading with him to stop or perhaps the memory of his mother asking him not to make her bury him. Whatever, he made the right choice. But when he returned home and embraced Jess, something made it seem that their relationship is more familial than romantic. And the debt is still unsettled. Vince is going to have to payback somehow.

Finally, there's the Riggins. Both Billy and Tim. At the moment when happiness was finally in their hands, Tim with his land, Billy with his son, fate intervened in the form of the police. The chop shop came back to haunt them both. There may be a choice to be made that involves Tim taking the fall so that Billy can raise Steven and stay with Mindy. Making hard choices is in Tim's DNA. He turned down Becky. He'll do what he has to do for Billy and his nephew. Don't you think?

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