The Televangelist: “Friday Night Lights” Season 4, Episode 5

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I can only speculate that the writers of this show have some sort of bet or game going called Who Can Make Matt Saracen’s Life Worse?  His father is overseas 98% of the time, his mother abandoned him, his beloved grandmother is slipping fast into the throes of dementia, he gives up on his dream of art school to stay and take care of her and as he desperately tries to grasp for the comfort art once brought him, and he’s told he’s no good by a fourth-rate instructor and a dickwad artist.  Matt went from overnight football star sensation to delivering pizzas and being humiliated by the town jerks, certainly by no karmic fault of his own.  He’s always stepped up, he’s always been responsible.  And now ... his absentee father dies, and it’s Matt who has to pull himself and his family together to deal with the crisis.  I mean sheesh, no one’s gotten so many bad breaks on TV since John Locke!

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I can’t remember a darker, bleaker episode of “Friday Night Lights” to date - even Julie showed she had a shadow of real emotion when faced with contemplating her own parents’ mortality.  When “FNL” does something emotional, it tends to do it in a painfully real way.  Matt picking up the shovel to literally bury his father was incredibly raw and heartbreaking, but I’m getting ahead of myself.  He displayed a range of emotions in this episode that I think showcased some of the best acting Zach Gilford has done (though surely by now he’s had enough practice).