The Longbox: In Which Jon Discusses FABLES

For as long as I can remember, I've had an affinity for fairy tales. Whether they came from Aesop or Disney, I've always been a fan of the ones which were designed for children but could be enjoyed by adults.
Bill Willingham must've felt similarly because he's taken all of the characters from stories we were told in our youth and blended them together into a single universe. The only difference is that most of these stories are written for adults who still have deep affection for their childhood.
Fables is told with grandeur, delicacy to detail and wit. I adore it.

1001 Nights of Snowfall Cover

By the time I got hooked on the comic, the sixth collection of the series had been put out. Willingham and company have since completed seven additional collections of the Fables proper title, as well as six volumes of the spin-off Jack of Fables, the prequel graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall and Peter & Max: A Fables Novel.
For this post, I will delve into the most recent releases: Fables vol. 13 and the Peter & Max novel.

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Peter & Max: A Fables Novel
One of the most amazing aspects of the series is just how many characters from folklore, mythology and literature Willingham hasn't used yet.
This novel tells us the story of three of the more commonly known characters from children's folklore: Peter Piper, his wife Little Bo Peep and his brother Max.
I know. I know.
"Who the fuck is Max Piper?"
Trust me, you've heard of him. His famous fable reveal is responsible for one of the greatest self-inflicted facepalms I've ever given myself, a gesture I've become all too accustomed with since discovering this series.
This novel sets everything up like a classic children's novel of old, from the classic characters, the style of prose, and the inclusion of some beautifully rendered and placed black-and-white illustrations by Steve Leialoha.
Each chapter alternates between the present (basically up to date with the events of the main Fables title) and the past, where you learn how the three characters arrived at their current predicaments.
It's a story of brothers, of children becoming adults and of the allure and dangers of power, as well as two constantly repeated themes in the Fablesverse: the persistence of evil and the triumph of love.
Although the novel can be read without any knowledge of the Fables comics, the events of it will blend into the series soon. So, I recommend that you comic lovers seek it out. Aside from filling in the gaps for you, you'll get on hell of a story. It really was a fantastic read, and any big Fables fan will want know its story.

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Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
This is a nine-part collection includes three issues each from Fables, Jack of Fables and the miniseries The Literals .
Fables, which tends to have an epic feel to it, is by far my favorite of the two principal series. Jack is outlandish and sophomoric, but has found it's niche on my bookshelf as well.
Jack, who in Willingham's world is the hero of the all the "Jack" stories you've ever heard (Beanstalk, Candlestick, Frost, etc.), splintered off into his own title a few years ago and hasn't been seen in amongst the original Fables since that time. I didn't think I'd like his off-hand a-holery mixing with the main title's characters again, but it was needed with the farm folk and wolf children to take a little gravity out of the darkness Rose Red has found herself in at this point of the series.

Fables' Snow White

The portions featuring the Literals (trust me, these characters fit into the canon just fine but would be too spoilery to even begin to explain for the uninitiated) were also a lot of fun to read for me, as there was an all-powerful figurehead for every major storytelling category you could conjure. Fashioning myself as a writer and genre-freak, this was a big selling point for me in this chapter of the comic.
I suppose my only real complaint was the lack of interaction between some characters. The Page sisters and Rose Red. The Pathetic Fallacy and Pinocchio. Mister Revise and the Adversary. All were ripe with possibility, but I guess there was only so many pages to include everyone, so I shouldn't complain too much.
It wasn't the best collection of the Fablesverse (that honor belongs to the lengthy, but heartbreakingly magnificent Vol. 10: The Good Prince); however, it was yet another very good one.
In all, this was a highly enjoyable crossover and, the best part, things actually changed at the close of it.

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The world of Fables shows no sign of halting its expansion. The Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love miniseries about Cindy going off on things clandestine is in the middle of its six-issue run (I will be waiting for the trade, like all other things Fables), another standalone graphic novel entitled Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland about Bigby finding -- well, that would spoil some things, so we'll just wait and see -- and there's also the possibility that ABC will go forward with a pilot based on the series someday since they've optioned it.

LowBrowMedia: 2010 Best Picture Nominees

Here are the LowBrowMedia staff reviews* of the 10 nominees for this year's award for Best Picture from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In some cases, posts are entirely dedicated to that movie. Others you'll have to scroll down into the article to find the review, in particular the "Best Of" lists.

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Avatar
Jon's Review (and here)


District 9
Mark's Review
Mike's Review
Jon's Review (and here)


The Hurt Locker


Inglourious Basterds
Mark's Review (and here)
Mike's Review
Jon's Review (and here)


A Serious Man
Mark's Review (and here)


Up
Up made my Top 10 list (linked above), but I didn't write anything about it. It is certainly worthy of a Best Picture nomination and is easily the best of the Pixar films I've seen. The montage early in the movie covering 50+ years is absolute perfection. -- Jon


Up in the Air
Mark's Review
Jon's Review

* Note - The LBM staff did not review The Blind Side, An Education or Precious.

select button: AvP made me want to cry acid tears

Review: Aliens vs. Predator

In my younger days, I used to believe that you could take two awesome things, smash them together, and mix them a bit to make something even more awesome.  This was just a dream of youth and in my adult years I have come to find that this usually doesn’t happen.  In spite of that, companies still feel the need to try it and these days it seems like they’re trying to smash more and more stuff together.  Case in point, Alien vs. Predator.

To the best of my knowledge, this game is not an attempt to adapt the movies of the same name into a game, which is good since I haven’t seen them.  I don’t really feel the need to do that to myself.  What this game feels like is an attempt to take three different games, smash them together, and make one awesome game.  What we get is one game made up of three lackluster components.  The colonial marine segment feels like an underdeveloped first person shooter.  The Predator segment feels like an underdeveloped first person brawler.  And the Alien segment feels like a poorly controlled, underdeveloped first person...um... something or other.  Each of these bits has its own story, none of which are really all that compelling either.

In the colonial marine section, you are an anonymous nobody referred to only as “Rookie.”  As is always the case, your ship takes a dive and you are tasked with trying to find what remaining marines are still alive on the planet so you can all escape.  As the Predator, you are a young warrior on his first outing in an attempt to keep the humans from acquiring technology from your fallen brothers.  Finally, as the Alien, you are specimen 6 who manages to get free from human captivity and makes its way killing whoever it comes upon.

Nothing in this game really serves to redeem it with the exception of Lance Henrikson’s presence, and you can always Netflix DVDs of the TV series “Millennium” for that.  The controls are generic and uninspired, and in the case of the Alien, the controls are a foe in and of itself.  In my various attempts to scale the walls and ceilings to get the drop on the humans, I found myself disoriented and receiving a heaping helping of pulse rifle to the face.

It’s a shame that this didn’t turn out better.  Maybe the currently in discussion plans for a sequel will see a better experience the next time out.  Oh, and I didn’t even bother with the online multiplayer having sold the game back to GameStop while I could get maximum value out of it.

Reviewed on: PlayStation 3

TV Tweets: Feb. 15 -28

As always, you can follow me at LowBrowJon to get my latest pixelated praises, as well as other LBM updates.

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Feb. 23rd [Supernatural]

All caught up with #Supernatural. Finally.

I consider the continuing adventures of the brothers Winchester the most severely underrated show on the tube. I got really behind this time around, and I'm not sure why because it gets a little better with each season. Not being a big horror buff, I find some episodes legitimately creepy since I'm not desensitized to it. What I come back for are love/hate brother relationship, the deep-seeded daddy issues and the monster/ghost slaying, not to mention the classic rock soundtrack, the obnoxiously loud Impala and the fact the show never takes itself too seriously.
Now in year five, Supernatural has delved deeper into it's literal Holy War it began last year. We've always known there was a Hell after the litany of deamons strewn across the U.S. in the Supernatural-verse, but with last season's introduction of angels, my inner John Milton nut is immersed in pure bliss. Certainly not the best show out there, but it's mythology is tightly constructed and it'll be back for a sixth season. In other words, it's worth catching up on if you're behind.

Feb. 27th [Red Riding Trilogy]

Part 2 of #RedRiding Trilogy: Wow. Just... wow.

It first aired on the BBC and then IFC in the States, so I'm counting it as a television show. Kinda unfair to most other tv to do so though. Expect a full review when I watch the final installment. In the interim: this is an outstandingly executed project thus far. Can't wait to sink my teeth into the last bit.


Feb. 28th [Caprica]

Is it safe to assume that Ron Moore is a big fan of Mafia Wars? #Caprica

Just saying...

Giant-Sized Longbox Special: Under Siege

So Marvel seemed to give us all a break a few weeks back when there were no Siege books followed by a week with only one.  Well, this past week, they made up for it with not one, or two, or even three, but five total Siege tie-in books.  Most were good, a few, not so much.  In any case, it’s given me a lot to write about and so I’m skipping a normal Longbox review to give you this giant-sized Under Siege. 

Thunderbolts #141 is probably the weakest of the books released this week.  To be honest, I haven’t really been following it since its roster changed after Secret Invasion so I’m only passingly familiar with the characters from their appearances in other books.

The story is a Mission: Impossible-style set-up with Norman Osborn setting the team to locate the spear of Odin stashed away somewhere in the armory of Asgard.  Already down two members (Ghost and Headsman), the Thunderbolts head off on their mission.

There is little here that really got me interested or invested into any of the characters and Osborn is written in a fairly unremarkable way that doesn’t seem to resonate with his character in the other Siege books.  The only thing this book really does is serve to bring the Mighty Avengers into the battle and that doesn’t happen until the last page.  By that time, I was ready to take a nap.  Here’s hoping the actual Mighty Avengers tie-in book does a better job with this.

Thor #607 improves things a bit for me but really just made me miss Straczynski.  Gillen’s writing on the book so far has been good but this tie-in feels very herky jerky.  It moves all over trying to fill in gaps with the Asgardians leading up to Osborn’s siege.  It also skips ahead in Volstagg’s story, possibly picking it up following the events of the most recent Siege: Embedded.

The Asgardians hear about what has happened in Chicago and Loki takes out the seers Heimdall and Knut so that there is no warning about what is to come.  Meanwhile, Kelda heads off to town to speak with Bill’s family about what has happened to him prior to all of this.  The story catches up with the siege as Osborn’s forces move on Asgard and Volstagg sits in a Broxton prison cell and watches Thor gets taken down on television.

The police of Broxton, feeling sympathy for the Asgardians and their situation release Volstagg and post a video to the internet in an attempt to rally public support.  As Volstagg hits the streets, Ragnarok hits, literally in the form of the Thor clone.  While I enjoyed a lot of the elements that were played with in this issue, I don’t think they were given real room to breathe.  Not bad, but not great.

Dark Wolverine #83 continues to follow Wolverine’s son Daken during Osborn’s assault on Asgard.  In the previous issue it was revealed that the Norns (think Greek fates but in colder weather) have taken an interest in Daken seeing him as the bringer of Ragnarok.  The issue ended with an interesting turn of events and a cliffhanger that seemed to put things at odds with what’s been going on the main Siege book.  Of course it was just an illusion used by the Norns to open a dialogue with Daken.

The action moves back to the real world where Daken is sent out to track down Thor in Braxton, a sequence that is handled very briefly in Siege #2.  The Norns continue to play with Daken’s perceptions and reveal their plans for him as well as expand on a point made for the siege of Asgard.  Asgard’s presence on Earth has set things out of order in the grand scheme of the universe and the Norns need Daken to set things on the right path by bringing about Ragnarok.

Daken beholds the future the Norns speak of and is told he has been chosen as the agent of Earth to bring about the rebirth of Asgard.  Daken is taken in by the promise of destruction and death on such a scale, but of course doesn’t give himself over to the plans of another.  Just as with Osborn, Daken moves contrary to the direct wishes of the Norns claiming his own agency.  Things sync back up with the real world and the post cooking of Daken by Thor.  I’ve been enjoying how well this book has been tying in and telling its own story.

New Avengers #62 picks up from #61 with Spiders -Man and -Woman fighting one another and Captains America dealing with Living Laser.  Bendis brings the words and the action in a way that always seems to make me happy.

While this book serves mainly to fill in the gaps of how Steve Roger’s and his Avengers come together with Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors, it is done in a well thought out way and brings the original Captain America back into the fold of some of his old team mates.

Bendis’s ability to write good action and witty dialogue brings a humanity to his books that I really love to see in a super-hero story.  He also manages to balance it out as a New Avengers story as well as tying into the larger Siege event.

Avengers: The Initiative #33 continues to follow Taskmaster’s and Diamondback’s stories as they are engaged first-hand in the attack on Asgard.  The book opens though with the members of the Avengers Resistance attacking The Initiative’s training facility, now under the control of The Hood.

Taskmaster finds that he’s put himself on the wrong end of Osborn’s temper in his attempt to be a part of taking down Thor.  This leads him to a realization a lot of people have had about Osborn long ago and so Taskmaster is now bringing his own motivations into question.  Diamondback, acting as a double agent, stands ready to try and assist Thor as best she can when Maria Hill shows up and takes the pressure off of her.  Constrictor pulls her out and gets her back to Asgard in time to witness the events of the fight between Sentry and Ares as well as the arrival of a famous shield in flight.

Back at The Initiative training camp, the resistance moves in only to be confronted and immobilized by The Hood.  Penance is being held in his quarters, unable to assist, and Night Thrasher is given an opportunity to see his brother resurrected from the dead.  All he has to do is kill Tigra.

So that’s it for this week Under Siege.  It was a rough one for me and here’s hoping that they don’t drop that many books on us in one week like that again.  Sure, it’s good for revenue but hard on the review.  See you guys next Sunday.

Select Button: Vagina Surprises from Dante's Inferno

Review: Dante's Inferno

Maybe I'm a little bit more forgiving to EA's Dante's Inferno than most who are talking it down as an uninspired and unoriginal copy of Sony's God Of War franchise. I think there's something to be said for taking a fairly slow epic poem from a few hundred years back and transforming it into an action game. In fact, considering the original material presents Hell as a series of levels to be descended, each containing its own characters and monsters, it's surprising it hasn't been tapped more often by video game developers.

As far as the comparisons go, I can't say that Inferno does anything new in regards to controls. It takes an effective, familiar, and efficient model and adds a few pieces here and there. Among the added bits is a ranged weapon, an advancement tree split between holy and unholy acts, and relics that can be leveled to power up Dante. It's not in controls that Inferno excels, it's in its presentation.

The game renders Hell in a very classical European artistic sense with a little modernism mixed in to keep things lively. There are rivers of blood, pots of boiling gold, and walls constructed of the damned that come to life and call to you as you climb upon them. The characters are rendered just as skillfully as Dante cuts his way through basic shambling souls, unbaptized babies with blades for arms, and lust demons with vagina surprises to reach out and grab you.  This game earns its M rating by not shying away from violence, gore, and sexuality.  However, it is not in these areas that Inferno sets itself apart from God Of War.

EA's Inferno is not an adaptation of the original, it is a reworking with names being the only things carried over from Dante's poem and this works to its strength at distancing itself from God Of War. Kratos is a character that is not working so much for the redemption for his deeds, but more to advance his own agenda at just forgetting what those deeds were so that he can find some kind of peace. Dante, on the other hand, is a character who has seemingly chosen to overlook his worst acts, which are thrown back in his face as he delves deeper and deeper into Hell. In facing his past, Dante's journey presents something a bit more rich and nuanced than that of Kratos.

Say what you will about the game mechanics of Dante's Inferno and how they ape God Of War, it's in the character of Dante, a much more human and sympathetic protagonist than Kratos, and their differing narratives where the real differences lies.  This game should keep both button mashing, action oriented players happy along with those that like a compelling story.

Reviewed on: PlayStation 3

Reel Low: In the Wake of American Tragedy

One thing I've noticed as I've aged a bit is I increasingly enjoy reflections of modern society, especially ones directly examining American ideals and mores. A few films in this vain stuck out to me recently. Two immersed themselves in the economic crisis came about this past year or so, while the other was made a year after September 11th, but is perhaps more significant eight years after the fact.

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First up is Jason Reitman's award-darling Up in the Air [2009].
George Clooney works for a company where he is subcontracted to firing people from their venue of employment. In the process, he travels around the country accumulating airline miles to an unheard of degree. He's closed off from everything, save for himself and the skies. That is, until two things happen: he meets a woman who lives her life exactly like he does his, and is tasked to mentor a young woman in the art of the termination. It's a sleekly compiled film where everything seems to fit perfectly, almost a bit too perfectly sometimes.
Not surprisingly, Clooney brings the needed likability to a nearly unsympathetic lead role. Similarly, Vera Farmiga as his mirror image and love interest delivered an excellent performance and was hard to not to fall for, and I'm fairly confident we'll be seeing young Anna Kendrick doing good work for some time after her turn here as Clooney's protege. Her initially icy performance warming into adulthood was the highlight of the film for me.
I find it a little surprising Up in the Air has received as much acclaim as it has, namely an entry for Best Picture by the Academy. Not that it isn't a good movie -- it's rather phenomenal in many respects, particularly in the dialogue -- but I had some trouble getting past an underlying current streaming through the narrative. At the end of the day, these characters were scum. Their daily task of becoming as emotionally devoid as possible to be successful in their own professions and goals.
Another problem with the film is that the two sides of the Clooney character -- the guy avoiding commitment and the guy traveling around the country firing people -- are never tied together, which is kinda shocking considering how well written this film otherwise is.
Up in the Air may be too slick in spots, and not cohesive enough in others, but it's still very good. Just maybe not best-picture good for my tastes.

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Meanwhile, frequent Clooney collaborator Steven Soderbergh dove head-first into the economic crash while uncertainty about it was at its highest. The result: The Girlfriend Experience [2009].
Soderbergh puts both the high-end escort and personal training industries under the microscope. However, this being one of his indie projects made between his big-budget studio flicks, that microscope is left a little out of focus, probably intentionally so.
Real-life porn star Sasha Grey takes the reigns of the film as Chelsea, a Manhattan call girl on the rise. She weaves in an out of the lives of her customers while slowing building her reputation and pay grade. Where the story takes a unique turn is that not only does she go about the city pretending to be the girlfriend of her customers, she has a live-in boyfriend who knows nearly everything about what she does.
The boyfriend is a personal trainer, who is also trying to climb the rungs of both the fitness and fashion worlds, as well as gauge his potential worth monetarily at every opportunity. These are industries that, at least in the way portrayed in the movie, are strikingly similar as they both force their inhabitants to profusely sell themselves in order to be successful. Coupled with an economy steeped in ruin, their plights are far more dynamic than they would have been had the film been set in 2007.
Some other reviews I've read seemed overly obsessed with Gray's porno past, claiming it gave a staunch realism to her performance. I don't have much of an opinion on that. She's not particularly outstanding in the role, but were it not for an often drab delivery, she might have glowed on the screen. Grey's past is only a distraction in the film if you let it be.
The Girlfriend Experience poses some intriguing quandaries for the leads: how do these customers keep up with the rising cost demands in this economic climate, and how do these entrepreneurs find the perfect balance of success and happiness?
Soderbergh doesn't seem interested in the answers to these questions, just posing them. At the end of the day, the all the film really seems concerned about is the benjamins.

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And even when it doesn't seem like it's all about the money, it really is. Such is one of the lessons delivered by Spike Lee's 25th Hour [2002].
Produced a year after 9/11, 25th Hour is about a convicted drug dealer's last day of "freedom" before beginning a seven-year sentence. It's simultaneously a love letter to New York City and a scathing critique of the American way filled with high levels of devotion and anger that only someone like Spike Lee seems to successfully pull off.
This clip is one of the highlights of movie. It doesn't really give away any plot points, so feel free to take a peek. (FYI, not for the easily offended.)
This cast is superb, top to bottom. Ed Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox each give marvelous performances.
I watched this one for the first time a few months ago, and never got around to writing about it due to my technical difficulties at the time. Because of that, I'm getting a little sketchy with the details of it, so I'll spare myself from making a mistake by trying to relay a detailed recap of the story. However, Norton's Monty tried to take a short cut to obtain the American dream by dealing drugs is exposed, as are the class differences between him and his best two childhood friends as they fool themselves into one last great night before he gets locked up.
I apologize for the lazy review here, but trust me -- it's a great film. Probably my favorite Spike Lee joint, out of the ones I've seen.
It's fascinating to watch a film like this now, nearly nine years after that hellish day. In 2002, anger and fear over it were still astronomical. But now, all those emotions from that time feel like they happened even longer to me. I'm sure those feelings still linger, especially for New Yorkers, but they aren't in the daily thoughts of the nation any longer. Watching 25th Hour brings them back in a flash.
The current recession is changing the world too, although in a much subtler manner, and it is feeding a lot of entertainment now. It makes me wonder if we'll look at Up in the Air or The Girlfriend Experience with any sort of the apprehensive nostalgia of "remember what 2009 was like?" in a few years time. Case in point, I was surprised how quickly I forgot about John McCain spewing endlessly on his "maverick" qualities until The Girlfriend Experience reminded me, so I'm sure there'll be something noteworthy. I'll let you know if we're still fiddling with this site in 2019.

The Longbox

Choker
issue: 1 of 6
writer: Ben McCool
artist: Ben Templesmith
publisher: Image

Okay, just so we’re clear, I’ve spent the past week thinking that I really need to broaden my reading scope a bit for fear of being seen as a Marvel fanboy reviewer.  Also, I think it’s in the best interest of being a good reviewer to explore material that might lie outside my comfort zone.  Choker lies in that region and I’m afraid I won’t be venturing back.

Choker is the story of ex-cop turned hard boiled detective Johnny Jackson who lives in a city with mutants, monsters, and mystery.  Johnny is called back in by his former boss for a chance to get his badge and his old life back if he’ll help put away an escaped criminal he locked up years ago.  Elsewhere in the city, vampire DNA is sold as a drug in dance clubs, and a woman is kept captive in a basement.  Of course the connections are not immediately made known as this issue is pretty much all set up.

For me, the wheels come off with the noir setting getting mixed in with too many other things.  Cohesion is found through Templesmith’s dark and finely crafted pages, which look like they were colored with coffee, whiskey, and blood.  McCool’s writing is spot on noir with harsh language and an inner monologue serving as the main route of exposition.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind noir.  However, it’s not something I gravitate towards but when you throw in too much other stuff at one time that you’re trying to “noir up”, I begin to lose interest quickly.  All in all though, the writing is solid and the art is fantastic, it’s just that the material itself really doesn’t interest me.  This is what I get for going outside my comfort zone.  See you all next Sunday!

P.S.  I just realized that this is post #101.  I'm not sure if this is reason to celebrate or not.

Longbox Special: Under Siege

Last week, Marvel gave me a break by not putting out any Siege stuff and this week they went easy on me again by just putting out the one book to talk about.  So without further ado, let’s get back to it...

This week, we return to The Sentry with Dark Avengers #14, but not until we get to see Norman Osborn and Victoria Hand have it out a bit.  They get into a debate about Osborn talking with a psychotherapist and Ms. Hand winning out.  This was one of my favorite parts about this book just because Bendis handles the exchange skillfully and also manages to make me feel sympathetic for Osborn.  The whole scene portrays him as a real man who, while certainly working his own agenda, has more complicated things going on inside his head.  Hand is presented as a person who not only thinks that Osborn has done some good work but who is also compassionate towards his history and situation and doesn’t want to see him fall into being a super-villain again.

Following another great scene with Hand putting her foot down with Moonstone (Osborn’s Ms. Marvel), we pick up where last issue left off with The Void preparing to level the world as a way to punish Robert Reynolds and his wife Lindy, who tried to kill him fearing where things were going.  Osborn suits up and takes off to have a chat with Sentry’s alter ego/nemesis in an attempt to talk him down.  This is another great scene, mainly because of the juxtaposition with the previous discussion Osborn had with Hand.  If anything, this is a manifestation of Hand’s fear of Osborn becoming the Green Goblin again and losing everything.  Having finally talked things out, Osborn begins to put things in motion to solve what he sees as the big problem with Sentry... Lindy.

This week’s tie in material really doesn’t move forward the events in Asgard in that they take place three days before.  However, this book does seem to be presenting the method by which Osborn gains the level of control over Sentry that he exhibits in the main book.  There’s also a lot of development with Hand and Osborn’s professional relationship and I’m really interested in seeing if Hand has an agenda of her own in all of this.

TV Tweets Special: FNL Season 4 Recap

Another football season for the Dillon Lions came to close last week. Yes, the Lions. Of East Dillon to be exact.
Say what, now?The great thing about DirectTV stepping up to save Friday Night Lights from almost-certain cancellation after it's second season is that it picked the show up not for one, but for three additional seasons. So, at the end of season 3 last year, the showrunners shook things up in a big way by literally splitting Dillon, Texas, in half. Our old standby Panthers, who we'd become so fond of over the past three seasons, were transformed into the hated West Dillon Panthers. Meanwhile, newly ousted Coach Taylor was tasked to construct the lowly East Dillon Lions from bottom up on the other side of town.
It was a rather genius ploy by the writers. Taking Eric Taylor, who despite commanding the Panthers to two state championships in three years was still seen as an underdog by the audience, and tossing him into the perhaps the most difficult position a high school football coach can be put in -- building a winning program from absolutely nothing with kids, who in many instances, had never formally played the game before -- then allow the resulting hardships to be overcome.
At worst, I rate Friday Night Lights as the second-best program currently on television. Although it gets billed as a show about a high school football team -- which it is -- it's really a thorough examination of the struggles in small-town America and how the people there find solace in faith, football and each other to get by.

This small town is fictional Dillon, located in a rural area of the Lone Star State, but aside from some local color, it could be just about anywhere. Over the show's four years, it has examined complex issues such as class, race, religion, divorce, gang violence, drug addition, paraplegic life, parenthood, teen pregnancy and first love, to name a few. Perhaps the one subject it's danced around would be alcoholism, but it hasn't celebrated underage drinking outright, so I'll only give them a slap on the wrist for that one.

WARNING - Major season 4 spoilers from here on out!!!

As great as the FNL is overall, and this season in particular was, I still have some issues with what went down in season 4.
-- No Tyra. I love me some Tyra. One last glimpse of Mrs. Jeter was a nice consolation, however.
-- I felt Matt driving off to Chicago after his father's death would have been a wonderful goodbye for him, ala the mini arcs of Smash going to college and Jason Street moving east from last season. Instead, we were force-fed the inevitable breakup with Julie, which I'm sure some of the audience needed, but when I think of the time they could have devoted to other storylines, it sticks out as particularly unnecessary.
-- I know Landry can't get the girl all the time, so that didn't bother me much, but did they have to pair Jess off with Vince? It was just too obvious of a choice for them to make, in my book. On the flip side, they do have to build the new characters for next season as the original cast slowly move away from Dillon, so fleshing out their characters was necessary, I suppose.
-- While Tim and Becky's partnership was a bit rushed (I mean, she's not Lyla, but it makes sense for Riggs to have a solid B option when/if he comes back), the off-camera excursion between new characters Luke and Becky was totally unacceptable, especially considering how that pregnancy affected so many other characters by the close of the season. An easy remedy would have been if they had given us less Matt and more of the Luke/Becky relationship.
-- Once again, not enough Buddy. This will always be a problem for the show. You can never have enough Buddy.

And then there were the things that played out beautifully.
-- Eric and Tami's marriage continues to be the best relationship on tv. Did you really think Glen's infatuation would turn into anything? I didn't. It was a bit annoying that they even lightly entertained this notion, but it was all worth it just to have Coach's reaction. This may be my favorite thing about the show: having a realistic marriage with disagreements and short-term displeasure surrounded by adult discussion, undying support and genuine love. If they ever present some sort of infidelity situation like any cookie-cutter tv drama might, I may be propelled to abandon the show.
-- The emergence of Tink. I'm not sure if Landry will be back next year (he could easily just leave for college like Tyra), but if he isn't, I feel Tinker, the giant O-lineman who has a wealth of street smarts and is just a flat-out, stand-up dude, could fill the void, if written correctly. Please use Tink liberally in season 5, FNL writing staff.
-- I actually cared about the new cast members. I assumed I was going to miss Street, Smash and the other old favorites too much, but the newbies won me over. Obviously, there were some things involving them I didn't like that I've already discussed, but I'm now fully invested in the futures of Jess, Vince, Luke and Becky for next year. Kudos to the show for that unlikely accomplishment.
-- Tim Riggins. Now that he's getting some play on the silver screen, I didn't think we'd get to see Taylor Kitsch in each and every episode this year. His send-off was appropriate, and there was finally some consequence for someone on the show when they broke the law. If this was the last of Riggs, I can live with it.
Despite my gripes, FNL is still firmly planted as a great series in my mind. It has never lost it's heart and when it takes an unrealistic turn (anything involving legalities tends to be suspect), it's usually forgivable because you really don't want these characters to be bogged down in any way.
Like many of its characters, the show itself perseveres through the rigorous annals brought forth by the obstacles, often resulting in triumph. It's hard not to enjoying rooting for it.
For you non-DirectTV subscribers out there, NBC will re-air season 4 later this spring.

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