Friday Night Lights: Mud Bowl

[vaznetti]

Last night's FNL did not work as well for me as it seemed to have worked for everyone else. As I think over the episode, each individual piece was excellent, but somehow, the whole thing never came together -- the whole was less than the sum of its parts, maybe.

I think that some of the problem stemmed from the attempted rape, and the way it functioned within the episode. It felt to me that it was put where it was to increase the tension at the end of the episode. I mean, we all knew that the Panthers were going to win the game; we all, frankly, had a pretty good idea of how they would do it. We didn't know what would happen to Tyra, or how she would get away -- and the way the show cut back and forth seemed to me to be using the tension of one scene to create tension in the other. Given that that was where the episode ended, it left a bad taste in my mouth. This is a completely metatextual problem, and has nothing to do with the characters themselves, but it did affect my enjoyment of the episode.

That said, how much do I love the fact that Voodoo will be back for the finals? So very, very much.


In a later post, I will talk about Jericho; that show worked really, really well for me last night.

Comments

hopefully posting without typos this time, GAH

[hesychasm]

barkley has a different interpretation of that, which is not to say yours is wrong, but it does cast the artistic choice in a more favorable light: that is, that the show used Tyra's assault to reduce the football to what it really is: just a game, where other more important things are happening. I've also seen other people interpret the cuts as just showing how alone she was, because everyone was at the field.

I certainly didn't enjoy the device and I'm not sure how they could have made it any better, but I guess I'm reluctant to believe this is the type of show to use sexual assault to ratchet up the tension of a football game. That hasn't usually been the way this show has treated football or sex.

Re: hopefully posting without typos this time, GAH

[vaznetti]

I guess I'm reluctant to believe this is the type of show to use sexual assault to ratchet up the tension of a football game.

I'd like to be able to believe this; I did see Barkely's post, and the other comment with the more sympathetic reading. I think that whether I change my mind about this will depend on how well they follow the incident up next week and in later weeks.

I think part of my suspicion was that the whole assault seemed gratuitous to me. But maybe this is just an issue for me -- I mean, I can't watch SVU, either.

Re: hopefully posting without typos this time, GAH

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

I think I land on both sides here - the AR definitely made me more uncomfortable than upset, and I was thinking that it seemed gratuitous, but then I was realized that the football was being put in persepective, and then they showed how everything had shifted profoundly and uncomfortably for Tyra (and by extension Landry), and now I'm willing to put my trust in the show to treat it properly in the last 3 eps.

At least, I hope so.

Re: hopefully posting without typos this time, GAH

[vaznetti]

I guess I don't like the feeling that I'm having to put my trust in the show. I mean, I know they've earned some trust, but I hate being so self-conscious about extending it.

Re: hopefully posting without typos this time, GAH

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that the juxtaposition was purposeful, and not just for the sake of drama. I think the theory that it was supposed to put the game in perspective is a good one; if there are any flaws to FNL, it's occasionally getting caught up in itself and believing that football really can act as a metaphor/representation of everything else. So I thought wrapping the attack and the game around each other did make each of them kind of stand on their own feet. I also kind of saw it as an exploration of two sorts of violence and aggression, one sanctioned and idolized, one horrible. (I had just watched A History of Violence the night before, so that could be the reason.) I guess in the end I just feel that nothing else in the nineteen previous episodes made me feel like they have ever done anything for cheap drama.

I found your journal in a quest to find screencaps for my own site www.twofangirls.com, if you're wondering where I came from :) We've done a lot of Veronica Mars, but we're trying to branch out and do FNL as well.