A review of tonight’s “Friday Night Lights” coming up just as soon as I swaddle and shush…

“I’m offering you all I got. This is not just about football. Think about that.” -Coach

Now that Matt Saracen has placed Dillon in his rearview mirror, the latest episode of season three focuses on the characters who are still stuck in town, and focuses on new bonds being forged or old ones being strengthened.

Eric learns to place some trust in Vince over the gun situation, and Vince responds in kind. Julie leans on Landry and an extra-curricular overload to get her over Matt’s abrupt departure. Landry realizes that the long distance thing with Tyra ain’t happening and makes his move with Jess. After Becky’s dad shows up briefly and turns out to be every bit the waste of a paternity test that Papa Riggins was to Tim and Billy, Tim steps further into the role of father figure for Becky, much as she’d like him to be interested in her in a different way. And Luke gets his dad to see the value of the football team in his life just an accident with the repaired fence and the cattle may sideline Luke from that team for a while.

And if Luke is out of commission, that’s going to put even more of a burden on Vince – is the wildcat really the wildcat if one guy’s taking all the snaps from center? – and his tenuous but growing relationship with Coach.

Read the full recap here: What’s Alan Watching?: Friday Night Lights, “In the Box”: Don’t fence me in.

Sorry for waiting until the morning after to do this one, but after work last night I was diverted by the ongoing news about Bengals receiver Chris Henry. Although I’d already watched this episode on Monday, I had yet to put thoughts down in Word, so anyway, without further ado, a quick recap and thoughts on the seventh episode of FNL this season.

Last week I wondered whether we’d get any real explanation of Matt Saracen’s departure from Dillon, and while we got a few bits — like the fact that he’s called his mother and grandmother, but not Julie — I’m still a little bit confused about the departure. (Did he just pull up at his place, look inside and leave, or was that final shot after he’d gone inside and said he was leaving? Also, have I gone nuts or did they not actually say where he went?)

Anyway, life goes on without Saracen and it seems Coach Taylor has found himself a new wounded teenager to mentor. Matt Saracen is so yesterday. It’s all about helping Vince Howard get out from under the weight of his drug addicted mother. I thought it was a nice moment when he showed up at the Taylor house with the gun, and one of the few legitimately happy moments in Vince’s life, not only when we saw him get his red, untouchable QB jersey, but also to hear his mom talk about him smiling like he was a kid again. Michael B. Jordan has been excellent as Vince. Have they established what year he is? Already wondering whether he gets to be a showcase character next season.

So while coach has moved on to Vince, Julie has moved on to … well, basically burying herself in extracurricular activities. It almost wound up being an unintentional showcase for her in both her meltdown during the Smackdown and her quiet but distressed reaction to the news that Matt had called his family, but not her. (Also, her moment with Mrs. Coach backstage was great.)

Read the full recap here Friday Night Lights Review and Recap:
Episode 407: In the Bag – Chris Littmann – First Cuts – Sporting News.