After the third season of "Friday Night Lights", the show (while still interesting) had hit a bit of a dry spell with many of the characters that had been the focal points of earlier seasons. "Smash" Williams was given his goodbye, Jason Street kind of just faded away, and Tyra & Tim were given the same dramatic material episode after episode. Thus,, the show writers introduced some new characters and scenery into this fourth season and really invigorated a show that needed a spark to really continue at a high level.
This season of the show sees Coach Taylor now coaching the East Dillon Lions, a ragtag football program barely up off the ground. Quite a switch from the prestigious West Dillon Panthers, to be sure! While the early portion of the season focuses on that enormous change and the effects it has on the Taylor family (and Matt Saracen), the season eventually becomes all about the newcomers, including...
-The two stars of East Dillon: Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan), a youth with a very trouble past and a very uncertain future, and Luke Cafferty (Matt Laurie), who is forced to transfer West-to-East due to some dishonesty among the football boosters. -Jess Merriweather (Jurnee Smollett), who shares feelings both for Vince and Landry after a meeting of fate seems to bring them together. -Becky Sproles (Dora Madison Burge), who has an intriguing relationship with Tim Riggins.
All of those new characters add an emotional "punch" the show that it had been missing since, in all honesty, about midway through the second season. The show becomes a little bit more about "issues" than it does about "individuals", but with such a rotating, evolving cast this formula ends up working out very well.
Overall, then, I consider the fourth season of "FNL" to have been a rousing success. Whereas the third season had dropped into 3-star territory for me, this campaign injected new life into the proceedings and really sucked me into pretty all the different plotlines. You will be amazed at how a show that has been set in the same basic place (Dillon, TX) for four years can change so much yet still remain both grounded and fresh.
This season of the show sees Coach Taylor now coaching the East Dillon Lions, a ragtag football program barely up off the ground. Quite a switch from the prestigious West Dillon Panthers, to be sure! While the early portion of the season focuses on that enormous change and the effects it has on the Taylor family (and Matt Saracen), the season eventually becomes all about the newcomers, including...
-The two stars of East Dillon: Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan), a youth with a very trouble past and a very uncertain future, and Luke Cafferty (Matt Laurie), who is forced to transfer West-to-East due to some dishonesty among the football boosters. -Jess Merriweather (Jurnee Smollett), who shares feelings both for Vince and Landry after a meeting of fate seems to bring them together. -Becky Sproles (Dora Madison Burge), who has an intriguing relationship with Tim Riggins.
All of those new characters add an emotional "punch" the show that it had been missing since, in all honesty, about midway through the second season. The show becomes a little bit more about "issues" than it does about "individuals", but with such a rotating, evolving cast this formula ends up working out very well.
Overall, then, I consider the fourth season of "FNL" to have been a rousing success. Whereas the third season had dropped into 3-star territory for me, this campaign injected new life into the proceedings and really sucked me into pretty all the different plotlines. You will be amazed at how a show that has been set in the same basic place (Dillon, TX) for four years can change so much yet still remain both grounded and fresh.
