Friday Night Lights, 4x04, “A Sort of Homecoming”

Episode Title: A Sort of Homecoming
Writer: Etan Frankel
Director: Chris Misiano
Originally Aired: 05/28/2010
Grade: A-

This episode was a bit slow, but it still had some great moments.

I’m happy that Landry gained some confidence from dating Tyra. He didn’t even hesitate to plant that kiss on Jess. I also don’t normally associate the word “hot” with Landry Clarke, but that kiss was kind of hot…

I wondered why Julie meeting Coach Staub at the Taylor home seemed so significant. Then she saw him at the gay bar. Ohhhhh. I like that he’s a spazzy football fanatic who happens to be gay.

From what I recall of the third season finale, Matt decided to stay in Dillon to take care of his grandmother, and that’s even what he tells Riggins early in the episode. It’s easy to view him later telling Riggins that he stayed for Julie as a retcon, but maybe it’s not that simple. I’m sure that Julie played into his decision to stay, and now that he’s realizing that she’s going to leave Dillon, her role in his decision feel even bigger in retrospect. Besides, it’s not like Matt would ever say, to anyone who would judge him, that he was staying for Julie. He’s much too cautious and much too proud to show his hand like that. But Tim isn’t really in Matt’s “judgment sphere,” so he can admit it to him.

Still, I can also see past the above fanwank and agree with Alan Sepinwell that Matt’s motivation for staying was rewritten in order to make it easier to write his character out of the show. They could have killed off his grandmother to accomplish that without changing his reason for staying, but given how much heartbreak Matt has already had in his life, I can see how they’d rather go with something else. I’m sure his father’s death will be a huge blow to him, but he wasn’t as close with him as he is with his grandmother, so I can see his father’s death and Julie’s imminent departure propelling him forward.

Other Stuff

-Matt Lauria and Michael B. Jordan are both great as Luke and Vince, but the storyline about them overcoming their dislike for one another was too predictable to hold my interest.

-I’d never heard that acoustic cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” before, but it piqued my interest. I’m a sucker for quiet, intricate acoustic guitar work, so José González was right up my alley.