Friday Night Lights this week

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Last night's episode was about the relationship between parents and kids and all the different ways that can be handled. There was the Taylor's being forced to handle Julie and Matt having sex. You had the disintegration of Buddy and the impact that has on Lila. And J.D.s dad tries once again to exert control over his son. And as an aside there was the ongoing Landry-Tyra saga taking another twist.

I love the Taylor's. The way Eric just kept himself quiet and under control after walking in on his favorite player and his daughter was amazing. It is interesting to compare that reaction to his reaction to walking in on Riggins and thinking Riggins had got Julie drunk, a little double standard but parents are allowed to have those. And the mother daughter scene between Tammi and Julie... whoa talk about tugging at the heart strings. And the very telling comment between Julie and Lila: "I'm afraid I'm not Daddy's little girl anymore" auuwww!

That of course was how the normal functional families handled things. On the other end of the spectrum you have the Buddy Garrity train wreck. Where we find out that the cheating slime ball salesman has just blown his daughter's college money (nicely handled reveal BTW). And Lila is forced to deal with the fact that siding with Daddy in the divorce might not have been the best thing she could have done. And poor Buddy handles the advice from Eric poorly as usual.

And for another twist we have robo-QB starting to grow up and assert himself (although I am not sure Tim Riggins is the ideal mentor for a freshman). And Dad once again lays his heavy hand down: no girlfriends until the playoffs are done. And of course handles it poorly, he could have found a way to explain things to his son, really made it a bonding father son moment. Instead it was "I am your father, you will obey me". And Mama McCoy gets another taste of how her obsessive husband is controlling their son.

Lastly, we have Tyra running back to Landry. Only to be shocked when Landry finally stands up for himself and tells her what she is really like. Of course Tyra is not dumb, far from it. And when it comes to relationships with boys she knows how to handle this: she does the right thing and generously steps up and gets Landry's band a gig. And when she watches Landry play you get a glimpse of real warmth and friendship there.

Of course there was a game. And Dillon won on some last minute heroics. And since Eric got himself kicked out of the game it ended up looking like the assistant coach won the game, not Eric, even though it was Eric's play call. So there promises to be some future tension there.

Once again, this episode was strong, and really nailed some interesting ideas without going too over the top. It was very cool. And the teaser for next week looked interesting to say the least.