I just got done watching the greatest Friday Night Lights episode of season two, and I finally feel that my faith is restored in the show. Throughout the first several episodes of the second season, things were going slowly and awkwardly, the storylines were boring and artificial, and I couldn’t really root for any of the characters. What felt so good about this episode was that it restored my faith in a show that was quickly losing my patience.

Here’s a recap of what went right:

A Tim Riggins plot in which he is not drunk.

At this point, I probably have an unhealthy fascination with Riggins. The show’s producers have made me feel sorry for him to the point where I openly cheer when he is on screen. He could not have been better in this episode. First off, his relationship with the Taylor family is exactly what I think inappropriate housing situations should look like. The 30-year-old aunt is flirting with him, Julie can’t keep her eyes off of him, he fixes the cable, he takes beer out of the fridge, Tammy yells at him. They really have quite a good thing going.

His football scenes are great, too. I literally got chills when he confronted the opposing team about the pranks and Coach Taylor had to come to his rescue. I was way too into that scene.
Not even the end of the show could have dampened my mood. Sure, Riggs got thrown out of the house, but the way that it happened was decidedly un-Riggins-like. I would have thought his demise would have been hooking up with Tammy’s sister in Coach’s bedroom or throwing a wild party when Coach was out of the house. Instead, he rescued a drunk Julie from a horny 16-year-old (and delivered one of the greatest 20-word speeches ever) and brought her safely back home. It wasn’t his fault that she was all hands when he was trying to help her, but I can’t blame Coach Taylor for making the decision that he did. Let’s just get this whole thing resolved so they can go back to being one big dysfunctional family.

Actual football scenes.

The drama of the visiting football team gave the whole episode some real tension. The opposing coach was terrific as an instigating villain, and the dynamics of sharing a lockerroom and practice field were fun to watch. The contrasts of style made for some pretty interesting scenes in the lockerroom pranks (Smashhole is my new fantasy football team name), practice field politics (was it just me or were they wearing the same uniforms?), and lunchroom fight (Landry: “Do you know I killed a guy?!”).

Landry telling Tyra off.

His conversation with Tyra at the dance was the exact conversation I said in my head a million times in high school. Granted, I was never anywhere close to the point of saying it to any of the popular girls I was afraid to talk to, but nevertheless, I still felt a sense of vindication when Landry pulled it off. And he was right. Everything he said about Tyra was true.

The conversation also represented a huge shift in the roles of the show. Landry went from being the hunter to the hunted. For the first time, he made Tyra realize that the relationship wasn’t all about her, and he put himself in control. At the same time, he officially became more girl-smart than Matt Saracen, who thinks falling in love with live-in nurses is a good idea.

Buddy Garrity.

I never realized how strange it was that his name was Buddy until this episode. Here he was, brokenhearted and desperate, ready to spill his soul to his ex-wife in the hopes of winning her back, and then we have the following exchange:
Kevin (new husband): “Hi, Buddy.”
Nothing more needed to be said, because at this point, all I could think about was the movie “Elf” and how his ex-wife could have ever married somebody named Buddy in the first place.

All kidding aside, though, Buddy has grown on me as a desperate, single guy. While the scene at the go-kart arcade with the kids was high on unintentional comedy, it was also genuine and heartfelt. It can’t be too long before he gets a rebound relationship with Tammy Taylor’s sister.

No sex.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to cover our eyes while Matt and the nurse got it on or Landry and Tyra hooked up in his bedroom. The story will probably be different next week, but at least I don’t have to feel guilty for one week.

No Street.

I was wondering what that light, airy feeling was. With no bitter quadriplegic to weigh things down, the show was surprisingly upbeat.