Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Farewell

Two years ago when I moved to Texas, Friday Night Lights was just a blip on my pop-culture radar. I had never seen an episode, and while I actually really enjoy watching sports, I couldn't imagine getting hooked on a TV series whose main objective was to examine high school football in a small Texas town. But once we got to Austin, it seemed like everyone was watching and LOVING this show. So we went ahead and gave it a try. And you know what? It turns out the show isn't really about football at all. Oh, and it is also excellent.

We watched the previous four seasons quickly enough to catch up and watch season 5 as it has aired this summer. Tomorrow night NBC will show the series finale, and I have to admit, I am feeling a little sad. The show, as I mentioned above, really is about so much more than just football (although no one can doubt the show makes a strong case that football is the glue that holds together most small Texas towns).  What I really love about this show is that it is an honest and compelling portrayal of the working class in America. I also really love the Taylors. The marriage between Coach and Tami, which is really the central aspect of the show, is honest, loving and sweet.

And I will admit that there really is something special about watching it while living in Austin. There is a Mack Brown reference in the pilot episode that I can guarantee you would have been lost on me had I not already experienced my first UT football season. It's also fun to roll my eyes at how silly the show's earnest love of Texas is, because that is just such a real depiction of how people feel here. It is actually kind of hard to not buy into the whole romantic "Texas Forever" thing, especially if you have Tami Taylor as a role model.

So if you haven't seen it, watch it! And then when you come to visit me in Austin, we can take a FNL tour around the city, playing mini-golf at Peter Pan, drinking milk shakes in the parking lot of Frans, and learning to two step at the Broken Spoke.