Friday Night Lights is great and this episode was as good as always, but it peaked in the middle. You kept waiting for something big to happen, and when it did, it was a foregone conclusion. Too many of the big questions in your head were left hanging. And in a way, the episode was great for setting up the next two or three episodes.

The last episode shows Riggins and Street heading for Mexico which is where this episode finds them, waiting for the stem cell doctor to get back so Street can get treatment in a seedy clinic. Riggins does his best to get trashed and have fun but Street wants to play it all serious. Street wants to go ahead with this risky treatment but Riggins is concerned for him and tries to get Lyla to help him. Lyla answers his request with cold skepticism and prefers to spend her time with a jailbird she met at Christ Teen Outreach or something equally ridiculous. But the guy is Spanish so it seems like Lyla will end up in Mexico, with a guide pretty soon. Big question, was she really that put off by Riggins’ kiss? It seemed like she was into it at first…

Meanwhile Saracen is still sulking and Smash is noticeably absent throughout the whole episode. Whether Saracen is still bitter about football, or wallowing in self-pity because Julie left him, he pretty much just mopes around. Even at the end of the episode, when he should be happy, he shows little to no emotion. AND there is not even a scene with Saracen and the super-hot caretaker for his grandma. How long will Saracen stay in this funk? Will he start getting with other girls? He IS the starting QB of the defending state champion Dillon Panthers…

Landry and Tyra are again central characters but their role in this episode is pretty subtle, and almost nonexistent. Despite the discovery, early in the episode, of the body of the man they killed, Landry and Tyra get very little screen time. They seem to have this strong bond that is more than just we-killed-someone-and-have-to-stick-together but seems like genuine love. Will it last? Will Landry turn himself in?

While most of the main teen characters had smaller roles in this episode, Buddy was all over. He was talking to his ex wife, helping Lyla get the jailbird a job, getting Coach Taylor a job, kicking ass at the school board, and pretty much just rocking. Now that Coach Taylor will be back in town, you can look to Buddy to have a larger role in the show again.

Pretty definite that Coach is moving back to Dillon. The moment we waited for for so long appeared as if it would be prolonged, but that tension was quickly resolved. How will the team receive Coach Taylor? Especially Smash and Saracen? How will Coach mend the bridges between his two offensive stars? Will he be able to lure Riggins and Street back from Mexico? Can he patch his family life back together? We shall see…

Julie did her usual act, and then showed a small hint of mellowing. Could that be possible? Tammy stays strong, as always, and really lays down the law for Julie when Julie wants to go driving. As an aside, I thought Julie was a sophomore last year, making her a junior now, but yet she still has her permit??? I guess if they let Riggins and Tyra stay on another year, it only makes sense for Julie’s age to be readjusted too. With dad coming back and stabilizing the family, and Julie evening out, will she go back to Matt?

The answer to these questions can be found this Friday night on NBC.

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.