Love that beta-carotene!

Friday Night Lights – The Confession
Landry comes clean about the killing, but his conscience still plagues him. Elsewhere, Herc urges Street to date, and the Taylors prepare to christen Gracie as the conflict between Tami and Julie grows. Photo © NBC.

“The Confession,” which could have been one of the best eps of the season, was actually kind of boring. Landry FINALLY confesses to the killing, and naturally no one really cares. I mean he accidentally killed a rapist who was in the process of attacking his girlfriend, so duh. The cops simply send him home after he confesses, and Landry freaks out, wanting—no, needing—to be punished for his perceived sin. But, he is the only one who sees it in those terms, and eventually everyone convinces him to plead self-defense (his dad even goes to Tyra for help, which was frankly unbelievable after he forced her to stay away from Landry in the first place). So Landry does tell the cops that it was self-defense, and that’s the end of that. No charges are brought against him. And after he tells Tyra this, the camera focuses on his mournful face and we see that he is not feeling any better. But hopefully this story arc is over. I was irritated when it began, because it is so not what FNL is about. Part of the charm of this show is that the problems are all rather commonplace (a la My So-Called Life in its heyday). To throw in something as dramatic as a murder and then have the story go nowhere is kind of lame.

And my complaints don’t stop there. WTF is going on with the continuity of relationships this season? As my friend Pants commented, it seems that each relationship exists solely to fulfill whatever role it needs to for a given ep. Some examples: Tyra & Landry, who I have complained about enough so I won’t bore you anymore. Street & Lyla, who had a dramatic breaking off of their engagement last season, and who had a kissy-cuddly moment in Mexico though the breakup business was never resolved, and who are now suddenly best friends chatting casually about who they are dating. Tami & Julie, who got into a HUGE screaming fight about Noah last ep and yet it is not mentioned at all in this one.

Come on.

Anyway, on with the recap. Street returns! Herc convinces him to date again, and he makes a date with a girl he finds online (WheelLovers.com if I remember correctly). Street meets the girl, who tells him she likes being peed on, and he tries to sneak out while she’s in the bathroom. His waitress objects to this until he tells her about the pee thing, and he ends up with her instead. She is cute, but doesn’t have quite enough sass. We’ll see. In other big news, Street moves in with Herc, and it’s about time. I am thrilled about the prospect of more Herc, and it will be interesting to see how Street grows now that he’s on his own.

The Taylor family is gearing up for Gracie’s christening, and godmother Julie is feeling overwhelmed and under-appreciated. She and Tami get into yet another screaming match, with Julie telling Tami that she would like to be thanked for everything she’s helping do. She storms out, and Tami retorts that she would also like a thank you, though she says this to an empty room. Awww, how sad. Or not, because she’s a mother and that’s her job. I get that Tami is also feeling overwhelmed and under-appreciated, but tough. Tami is behaving exactly like Julie, and Julie is FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. I haven’t had much sympathy for Tami this season. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to and I’m just an ass, or what.

Santiago returns! I knew Buddy would be a good dad, and I am so, so glad that I was right. With a game coming up, Santiago convinces himself that he can’t handle the pressure and freaks out on Buddy, telling him that he hates him. Buddy reacts by not reacting, and begs Coach Taylor to let Santiago play. After getting pummeled a few times, Santiago throws his all into the game and makes a fantastic tackle. I actually yelled, “Somebody hug him!” at the TV, but alas, no one did. The other players did pat him on the helmet, which is ok too. The “bad-player-suddenly-does-something-great” bit was awfully familiar (Landry, anyone?) but I liked it because I like Santiago. And when Buddy was outside waiting for him after the game and Santiago wholeheartedly thanked him for everything—whew! Turn on the waterworks.

Riggins’ creepy meth roommate stalks him before waking him up with a gun to the ribs, and Riggins finally leaves the house. I’m tiring of this storyline, though I imagine we have not seen the last of the roommate. Otherwise everything involving Riggins was fabulous, as Coach turns him into his own personal assistant as payback for Riggins’ recent bad behavior. From Riggins’ comments about the girls’ gymnastic comp he helps out with (“Jenny’s just not sticking her landing, she’s her own worst enemy”), to him sitting in the locker room with a ribbon baton (how very Get In Shape, Girl), to him sleeping in his truck outside Coach’s house until Eric wordlessly gives him a sleeping bag, it was all perfection.

Finally, Matt and Carlotta are blissfully in love and boring as hell.

And that’s it for FNL until 2008.