This is the episode that stands above the rest. I'm starting to understand why Slate is so obsessed with the show.
It's a "themed" episode, which is to say, the parallel plots of the season align around some common ground (hint: it's sex). Paralyzed former QB Jason Street contemplates infidelity while Buddy Garrity deals with his own straying. QB1 Matt Saracen is surprised when his girlfriend Julie (the coach's daughter) utters the line that gives the episode its title.
With each episode, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has grown more complex and iconic. As the central character of the show, he defines its unbalanced themes of football and family. For "Friday Night Lights," football is necessary and not necessary at all at the same time. Football drives the plot, but drama off the field continuously--and accurately--diminishes its urgency.
"Friday Night Lights" is the spiritual successor to "My So-Called Life." They're both about high school kids and their crises of popularity, romance, and ability. And both shows give equal time to kids and their parents, moving through life without a set of rules.
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