Friday Night Lights: 10 Things The Characters Wanted In Season One That Came True By The Finale

Friday Night Lights had some of TV’s best characters during its run. Many of them achieved their desires by the time the series wrapped up.

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Are you ready for some football? That was what the acclaimed TV series Friday Night Lights centered on as well as the people who played it and were devoted to those who did. Dillon may be one of those small towns that never changes, but the people in it sure did.

Fans watched as high school kids grew up and the adults around them made decisions that altered the paths of families. In the end, everyone got a version of what they hoped for; some leaving Dillon forever, while others found their way in the place they grew up with the motto, “Texas Forever.”

10 Landry Clarke

Smart, nice, likable, and a social outcast because he doesn’t play football in a football town, Landry looks forward to a life outside of Dillon. Even though he’s best friends with Matt and has been involved with Tyra, he doesn’t belong there. Even when he finally gets his chance to play for the East Dillon High Lions, he’d rather play music in a band.

If there was ever someone who was born for bigger things than Odessa, it is Landry. By the finale, he leaves for college in Houston, presumably never to return.

9 Julie Taylor

When fans are introduced to Julie, she’s a high school freshman and the only child of Eric and Tami Taylor. Her parents, especially her dad, are helicopters which makes her feel trapped hence her rebellious nature with her hanging out with Tyra and dating Matt Saracen. She wants to be free to live her own life.

By the finale, Julie goes to Chicago to live with Matt as her husband. She’s always had a good relationship with her parents, made better since she has been able to follow her own path and live life by her own rules.

8 Brian “Smash” Williams

There was a desperation about the Panthers running back that was evident from season 1 when he used steroids because a college coach said his size worked against him. He desperately needed a college football scholarship if he wanted his sports career to continue and to help set up his family for the future. He sees a hint that his dreams are going to come true until season 3’s knee injury. He takes a manager job at a local business but continues to work with Coach Taylor.

By the middle of the fifth season, Smash is mentioned on TV playing for Texas A&M. Where there’s a will there’s a way, with Smash’s desperation turning to a determination to help him realize his goals. He is proof that not every path to success is on a straight and narrow road.

7 Matt Saracen

The Panthers’ backup QB in season 1 lived alone with his grandmother whom he took care of. He was a social outcast, but eventually gained acceptance after Jason’s accident when he took over as quarterback. He was way too young for the family responsibility on his shoulders. Desperately looking for a family, he sees Coach Taylor as a father figure and what he could have with Julie as a way to create the home life he never had.

By the fifth season, he gets what he wants when he reunites with Julie and proposes. They convince Eric and Tami that their love is true and with the Taylors’ blessing, Matt and Julie make their life in Chicago.

6 Tim Riggins

When viewers first meet the Dillon Panthers’ fullback/running back, he was extremely troubled because of his dysfunctional home life. With no mother, as well as an estranged father, Tim lived with his older brother Billy. He acts out with women, Tyra and Lyla in particular, and booze. It’s clear what he longs for is a loving home and one in Texas, since he loves it there.

By the end of season 5, Tim joins forces with Billy to build a house. It’s quite the symbolic moment as Tim, now a grown man, has the chance to figuratively build the home for himself–and perhaps an eventual family–that he had always wanted, all in Texas.

5 Jason Street

The golden boy of the Dillon Panthers (based on a real person), who ranks as the top high school quarterback in the nation with interest from Big Ten universities, has major plans for the future: play for the NFL and marry cheerleader Lyla Garrity. This is cut short when he suffers a spinal injury during a game leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Always a winner, Jason has learned to master his new life, and if not play, at least participate in the game he loves. Now a sports agent, he seeks out Coach Taylor to see if he wants to coach college ball. He’s married to Erin and has two kids. Jason is the epitome of the phrase: winners never quit.

4 Tyra Collette

There is no one who hates Dillon more than Tyra. She had a very difficult life there and wanted nothing more than to get out. Thanks to guidance counselor Tami Taylor, Tyra is encouraged to focus on her studies and going to college.

After returning from the University of Texas and getting perspective on herself, she helps her family and reconnects with Tim. Part of why she seemed to hate Dillon so much in high school is that she believed the chips were stacked against her, but when Jason has his accident, she realizes life is not fair for anyone. Dillon hasn’t changed, but Tyra has can finally deal with her hometown.

3 Lyla Garrity

Season 1 was big for this character. She is the QB’s cheerleader girlfriend, worshipped by all, and has an enviable family life. Then there is her fall from grace after Jason’s accident when her affair with Riggins is discovered and her family breaks up because of her dad’s affair with Tyra’s mom. After suffering ridicule from so-called friends, she soul-searches what she wants.

Lyla is another Odessa resident meant for bigger things than what her football town had to offer. She never makes it to the finale as her character was written out in season 3, making an appearance in season 4 only to return to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Even Riggins admits during her visit that staying in Dillon would be holding her back from a better life.

2 Tami Taylor

Just as in the movie, “Mrs. Coach” is the woman behind the man through most of the series. Even though she’s a very caring and successful guidance counselor, as well as Eric’s voice of reason, Tami never seemed to get her due because Eric was the star. She even stays behind in Dillon not to uproot Julie, yet again, when Eric gets his chance to coach college football.

But of all the characters, Tami really gets what she wants, which is respect for her abilities. She gets a job offer in Philadelphia as Dean of Admissions at a prestigious school, and this time Eric moves for her job. It’s a very pro-woman ending for Tami. It was also gratifying to see a woman on television get recognized for doing her job well, and earning her kudos.

1 Eric Taylor

The coach who led both the Panthers and the Lions to state championships is considered one of the best high school coaches in the history of Texas, and yet his dream is to coach D-1 college ball. He realized his dream in season 2, but it was short-lived because he moved to Austin alone, leaving Tami and Julie, which had him re-evaluate what he wanted.

By the finale, his real dream of having a happy family life and seeing young men become the best they can be is realized when he and Tami move to Philadelphia and he coaches a high school team. He luckily got a second chance to recite, “Clear eyes, full hearts…” to another set of teens who will benefit from his guidance, which was his strength all along.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/friday-night-lights-character-wants-came-true-finale/