Review - Friday Night Lights Season 5 Episode 2 On The Outside Looking In

As the episode title, "On The Outside Looking In," suggests, everyone is on the outside looking inwards. Before, there would be one or two characters looking from the outside, but this is on a much larger scale. No longer at comfy Dillion High, every character, including the Taylors, is struggling with their current positions and have a hard time realizing that they have to put in extra effort.

Coach Taylor learns the hard way how the football establishment will treat him. Despite beating the former state champions, the Lions are unranked. Not only that, Luke is suspended a game for the hit he laid of the quarterback last week. The reasoning is that Luke led with his head which he clearly did not, but the message is clear: the Lions aren't to be respected. Of course the final scene gets the ball rolling. All Coach has to do is write "State" on the board. Our hearts beat a little faster and we know what's coming.

For Tami, she's starting at square one and she knows it. The troubled students have no intent on getting help on their own and the teachers have no incentive to help troubled students. Tami gets somewhere in the episode, managing to gain the help of one teacher for an after school program and bring Epyck slowly under the fold. The journey is far from over, but Tami is getting somewhere.

Unable to find friends or someone to connect with, staring at various groups of people talking together, Julie gets friendly with her TA, and it looks like she and her TA will hook up. Uh oh... Instead of always having plots relating to sex, couldn't Julie do something different for a change?

I'm still not that invested in the high schoolers, but things could change. Vince gets a rally girl, and Jess is also looking on the inside now that she's not helping Vince with football. (But wasn't she a cheerleader?) With the Riggins, Becky is also an outsider, unsure what to do with these people who seem to care about her.

Because this is the final season and it's how the show works, I'm guessing those on the outside will eventually reach the inside, defying expectations and succeeding under bad circumstances. Is it final season material? I guess we'll find out.

Score: 8.7/10