Friday Night Lights
Recaps

Better late than never, right? We know Friday Night Lights airs on Wednesday evenings, but we were unable to get to this review until today.

Still, rather than give up on it entirely, we're following Coach Taylor's advice to the Lions and we're finishing this fight!

Friday Night Lights, perhaps more than any show on television, has always focused on its characters. There have rarely been major, suspenseful storylines (we're gonna pretend like the Landry killing never happened) to drive a season, just an in-depth look at various characters we've grown to love, played by incredible, gifted actors.

But the East Dillon storyline has given the series something new and exciting: a battlefield. There's clear good versus evil. Even when Buddy was a foil to Eric early in the show's run, there was always a lovable, vulnerable side to the character. But the same can't be said for Joe McCoy and Wade Aikman.

These guys are true antagonists and it's been a pleasure to watch Eric - and Tami! - square off against them so far. We laughed out loud at her ending line about telling them off... and drinking wine.

A smile was also plastered on our face during the brief interaction between Tim and Eric. These two were both so happy to see one another and nothing pleases us more than future scenes of Riggins on the field, helping the Lions, where he belongs.

Also: kudos to the show for slowing integrating news characters. The snippets we got of Luke and Jess this week made us anxious to learn more about them.

Check out our recap of "After the Fall" now and let us know your thoughts on the episode.

Spoiler Alert: Friday Night Lights kicked off its fourth season on DIRECTV last night.

If you prefer to watch it and read about it when the show airs on NBC in the spring, this review isn't for you.

That said, if there's a sight on TV stranger than Coach Eric Taylor in the red of the East Dillon Lions, we're yet to see it.

The fourth season premiere - which you can read a full recap of NOW - drew some major battle lines this week. Dillon High School has been renamed West Dillion and is now the enemy. J.D. McCoy is your sterotypical, pompous ass; Mr. McCoy is worse than Buddy ever was; and Tami is caught in the middle.

Then there's Eric.

With jaw clenched tighter than ever and screams echoing through the dilapidated locker room of West Dillon, he constantly laid into the Lions. This team certainly won't win State, but there's an unlimited number of storylines available here.

Foremost, following this week's episode, is Vince. A troubled, quiet youth, he clearly seeks discipline and a father figure. Will Eric provide that for him? So far, so good.

The same can't be said on the field of play, however, as the Lions' play was the antithesis of good. It was atrocious. It actually led to a halftime forfeit. Among other aspects of the episode we loved:

• Landry as the wily, respected veteran on the Lions.
• Riggins. Pretty much anything to do with this character, who we have to imagine will end up as a West Dillon coach.
• The dark side of Matt Saracen. Did anyone else stand up and cheer when he jumped J.D.?
• Tami and Eric. Always the heart of this show. Even a brief kitchen scene, where she laments missing his first game, is more natural and more loving than anything else on television.