This Season of ‘Friday Night Lights’ Is Better Than You Remember

The Big Picture

• Season 3 of
  Friday Night Lights
  spends more time developing the relationship between epic duos like Tim and Lyla, Tyra and Landry, and Matt and his grandma.
• Coach Taylor and Tami become underdogs in Season 3 as they face challenges in their leadership roles, making their onscreen trajectory worth rooting for in Season 3 even more than other seasons of the series.
• Season 3 encourages the main cast to follow their dreams, offering them uplifting and hopeful endings.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose! Friday Night Lights, the beloved mid-2000s football drama, delivered one of the best first seasons in TV history. From Jason Street (Scott Porter) getting into a life-altering accident at the beginning of the series to Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) leading the Dillon Panthers all the way to the state championship, Season 1 was a full package. With such a promising start, it can be hard for a series to maintain its A-game. Although some would argue that Season 5 was a close second in comparison to the prowess of the first season, Season 3 was actually a better send-off to the main cast than most people remember. The third chapter of the YA hit was able to bring back the show’s quality after the mismatched storylines and plot holes in Season 2, and gave its characters the resolution they truly deserved.

‘Friday Night Lights’ Season 3 Is Full of Epic Duos

Like many other teen dramas, Season 3 marked the end of the high school journey for most of Friday Night Light‘s lead characters. It is senior year for Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki), and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), so the pressure to get a football scholarship or be accepted at their desired university becomes a constant topic of discussion. With uncertainty kicking in, each character connects with another as a way to cope with the stress that comes with graduation. Tim and Lyla start off the season in a relationship, and their bond becomes a safe haven of sorts during this pivotal moment of their lives. Tim’s talent on the field doesn’t go unnoticed by a college scout, and for the first time, he ponders the possibility of playing college ball. As for Lyla, she learns that her father has used up her university funds, and she is no longer able to afford the tuition at Vanderbilt (her top choice). While Lyla encourages Tim to take on the opportunity head first, Tim consoles Lyla as she navigates the upsetting news and helps her find the light at the end of the tunnel. Their relationship is only one of the best featured in Season 3, which was filled with epic duos.

Another notable pairing in this season is Tyra and Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons). After Season 2, Tyra and Landry have a lot of history together, having to literally get away with murder. At the start of Season 3, they are no longer a couple, but they continue to harbor a close friendship. As their unity is constantly tested, their platonic relationship helps both of them to achieve their goals. Tyra gets the support she needs from Landry to get into university and Landry is able to finally get some gigs lined up for his band, Crucifictorious, thanks to her. Aside from these two, Matt and his grandma’s ups and downs are also a highlight of Season 3. Although their relationship feels like a drawback for him in his personal journey, it marks one of this season’s most emotionally charged storylines. With his grandma’s dementia getting progressively worse, Matt comes to the difficult realization that he is no longer equipped to be her full-time caregiver. Despite his decision at the end of the season to stay in Dillon instead of studying art in Chicago, viewers can’t help but sympathize with him and the lengths he goes to be there for his grandma.

Coach Taylor and Tami Become Underdogs in ‘Friday Night Lights’ Season 3

It is no secret that Coach Taylor and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) are the heart of Friday Night Lights. Their unwavering desire to help the teenagers in Dillon to become the best versions of themselves is nothing short of commendable. In Season 3, their leadership roles prove to be a burden in disguise, and they soon turn into underdogs in their respective fields. Tami is now a principal and is committed to elevating the education standards at the high school, even if it requires her to use some of the funding from the Panthers to do so. As for Coach Taylor, he stands on a tight rope ever since the Panthers lost the previous season and is continuously threatened by Joe McCoy (J.D. McCoy’s father, played by D. W. Moffett). With so much backlash and criticism coming from all sides, the Taylor family becomes even more tight-knit, making their onscreen trajectory worth rooting for in Season 3 even more than other seasons of the series.

‘Friday Night Lights’ Season 3 Encourages Its Main Cast To Follow Their Dreams

Lastly, what makes Season 3 a standout compared to other seasons (particularly Season 5) is that it allows for the main cast to have their happy endings. Although Season 5 ends on a more realistic note, with several characters having to make concessions instead of ending up where they wanted to, Season 3 gave viewers the opportunity to appreciate a more uplifting finale. Jason finally finds a purpose for his life beyond his failed football career, forming a family and becoming a sports agent. Smash (Gaius Charles), who had suffered a knee injury at the beginning of the season, gets to overcome this obstacle and earns his spot in college football. Tyra’s efforts to get accepted into Texas University pay off in the end, when she gets off of the wait list and is given the opportunity to pave a different future for herself than her mother and sister. Lyla is able to get enough money to go to the university she wanted, even if her and Riggins had to go their separate ways.

Overall, Season 3 is better than people remember because it offers some of the most worthwhile pairings of the entire series through Riggins and Lyla’s whirlwind romance and Matt and his grandma’s complicated bond. Both Coach Taylor and Tami face hardships in their leadership roles, resulting in the underdog arc viewers rooted for. Finally, Season 3 gives the main cast the hopeful ending they deserved, even though later on in the series their fate is more realistic.

Friday Night Lights is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix