friday night lights: are you as scared for matt saracen as i am?
remember when it was as easy as flag football? // nbc promotional photo
As if having Sawyer’s babymama for a mother isn’t bad enough.
As the minutes waned on last week’s gutwrenching episode of Friday Night Lights, I grew more and more scared for the future of Matt Saracen. And although my worst fears were not realized by the time the hour was over, I have a lingering feeling I know what’s going to happen to Matt–and it leaves me uneasy both for Matt and for Julie Taylor.
(Note: I’m spoiler-free for FNL, so this is all just speculation.)
Fact: Matt’s having a pretty bad time in Dillon right now, feeling useless delivering pizzas.
Fact: Last week, after Matt’s dad died in Iraq, the Army officer who brought the establishment’s condolences to the Saracens was conveniently introduced as a recruiter.
Fact: Zach Gilford is leaving the show soon, whether I like it or not.
Speculation: Matt Saracen is about to enlist in the United States Army.
For starters, why tell the dead Army dad story so close to his departure if the two aren’t related? Second, this is definitely an appropriate (if heartbreaking) decision for Matt to make. He wants to get out of Dillon so badly, but he feels stuck there with all of the women in his life. And this is a story that the show has yet to tell, one that is common in communities around the country. It seems perfectly legitimate for the show to write Matt out for a while by sending him on a tour of duty. (Topical, too, considering the recently announced Afghanistan surge.) And unlike other military characters (I’m thinking specifically about Gallant on ER), I know that FNL isn’t doing this just because it’s political (screw you, John Wells) or just because it stirs up ridic angsty drama (screw you, John Wells), but rather because it’s real. As much as I want to keep Matt safe and happy in Dillon forever, taking care of his grandma and having dinner with the Taylors, this is an important story to tell, too.
But it breaks my heart for Julie Taylor.
This is the first time I have ever commented on a TV blog. It is appropriate that Matt Saracen, perhaps my favorite character on any show ever, has inspired me to do so.
I did not think about this possibility right after watching that episode (because I am not as cagey as you/I was crying a lot). But it does make perfect sense, as far as the external factors to Matt’s life are concerned (I would add to your list of reasons that Cassidy from LOST and the grandma are friends now, after a rough patch, so Matt isn’t needed as much at home as he used to be). But I worry that, even if it is a “real” decision (I liked your Twitter post about how you like FNL because it’s real, LOST because it’s not, West Wing because it could be. That’s maximizing the capacity of Twitter right there – a neat little point in 140 characters. Well done), it might not entirely ring true for Matt to come to that decision himself (although I suppose decisions like that are never really made in a vacuum). As much as people told him at the wake/funeral how much good his father did, and as much as he said that himself at the funeral, I tend to feel like Matt wouldn’t just up and leave like that, especially since his father did just, you know, die in the war. If my calculations are correct he has two episodes left, and I’d be willing to bet all the money in my pocket that he does leave, as you say. But I hope the show gives us a little bit more in terms of why Matt would come to make that decision himself, as opposed to why Matt would do it because of all the other things going on in his life.
Regardless, it’s the best show on television (although granted I don’t watch as much as other people who own working televisions do). Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
Those are all good points (especially the one about how good at Twitter I am), and the Matt we saw last week definitely isn’t in any way looking to follow in his father’s footsteps. I think we’ll see him make the decision at the end of this week’s episode, spending the first 58 minutes thinking about it. I think he’ll end up doing it in part because he wants to understand more about his father and his life, which he was never really allowed to be a part of. We saw that in his confusion over whether or not his father was a funny guy. But I agree with you that it’s better if Matt does it for himself than because he just has to get away from all them girls. (Seriously, the dude is surrounded by women! He doesn’t even hang out with Landry anymore!)