Damaged Characters - Tim Riggins - Friday Night Lights
I think my favorite characters on television are usually the damaged ones. The Winchester brothers (Supernatural), Fox Mulder (The X-Files), Cooper Hawkes and T.C. McQueen (Space: Above & Beyond), Max (Dark Angel), Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars), just to name a few.
This morning, as I was listening to my iTunes, I heard a song that always reminds me of Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) from Friday Night Lights (one of 2 great shows nobody seems to be watching….the other is Supernatural).
Todd Snider’s “Keep Off The Grass”, which reminds me of Riggins, goes as follows:
“It keeps on gettin harder to keep on keeping on With everybody screaming orders in my ear I wanna be my own man I‘d love to walk it alone But every time I leave my home This is what I hear
Keep your nose clean Your head above water Keep your feet on the ground KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER Keep your back to the wind Keep your thoughts to yourself An eye on the clock Keep an eye on your health I wish they’d let me just keep to myself I do fine on my own”
I became hooked on Friday Night Lights in the third episode, “Wind Sprints”. Up until then, I was on the fence about this show. I’m not a football fan, and I usually need action, mystery or adventure in my shows to keep my interest. But in “Wind Sprints”, I got hooked on Coach Taylor, Tim Riggins, and Matt Sarazen. But this blog is about Riggins.
Tim Riggins is definitely damaged. I have to admit, it took a few episodes for this character to grow on me. He drinks like a fish (his parents and his brother are apparently alcoholics), he doesn’t go to visit his paralyzed best friend (Jason Street) in the hospital, he’s in love with (and sleeps with) his paralyzed best friend’s girlfriend (Lyla), he’s mean to his own sometimes girlfriend (Tyra), the Rally Girls do all of his homework…in short, he’s a screwup. Heck, he doesn’t even show up at the pancake breakfast fundraiser for Street. Instead, he’s out hitting his empty beer cans with a golf club. On the surface, a real loser.
Until you look below the surface. As the two seasons progressed, we find out more about Tim. He may be damaged, but not beyond repair.
In “Wind Sprints”, we find out that Tim blames himself for Street’s injury. It doesn’t matter that he was half a football field away, he was the one that should have made that tackle.
In “Git ‘Er Done”, the first time Tim visits Street in the hospital, it is with the team. Street is at the tail end of the line, and when he finally makes it through the door, he chokes up as he tells Street he misses him and holds his hand. As Tim exits, you can hear what sounds like a choked sob. I figure that was Tim. Might have been Jason, but I figure it was Tim.
When Street orders him to come to the hospital in “El Accidente”, Tim comes. He busts Street out of the hospital for a day out, picks him up to put him in the truck, and carries him down to the dock to put him in the boat for a day at the lake. Riggins may bitch about how heavy Street is, but you can tell he loves him.
In “Homecoming”, Tim actually tells Street in front of all the coaches and players that he loves him like a brother. Street obviously isn’t sure about that, since he now suspects Tim is sleeping with Lyla, but we, the viewers, know that Riggins is serious. He does love Street, in his own damaged way. When Jason decks Tim in “Crossing The Line”, even knowing he deserved it, we feel bad for Tim. In “Full Hearts”, when his teammates smash Tim’s truck with baseball bats (while he’s in it) in retaliation for what he did to Street, we’re relieved he isn’t hurt. In neither case does Tim fight back. He, too, figures he deserves it. Later in the episode, after being hit hard and hurt by the rival football team, he drags himself back on the field to give these same teammates the best he has. And his best is actually pretty awesome, even to someone who isn’t a football fan.
In “Nevermind”, we figure out that there is a good possibility that Tim can’t read. The Rally Girls have been doing his homework for him for years. Apparently, he can’t even read their work. He thinks the Scarlet Letter is about a girl named Scarlet (wait a minute, it isn’t?). After the truly awesome Landry (possibly my favorite guy, after Coach Taylor), reads “Of Mice and Men” out loud to him, Tim shows up at Landry’s band concert. Considering there are only three or four people there (none of which are Landry’s best friend Matt), and that Landry’s band is truly awful, that says something about Tim.
In “Upping The Ante” and “I Think We Should Have Sex”, we get to know Tim’s father, Walt Riggins (Brett Cullen, one of my favorites since The Young Riders). At this point, we begin to see exactly why Tim is so screwed up. Walt (an alcoholic) gets Tim drinking again, steals a $3000 camera from the team locker room, and overall breaks Tim’s heart. Tim goes out and finds a fight where he lets himself get the snot kicked out of him. Tim’s version of “cutting” I guess. Then Tim takes the camera back to Coach Taylor. When the Coach invites him in, Tim just smiles sadly and tells Eric he’ll see him at practice.
In “Extended Families” and “Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes”, we get to see Tim have a relationship with an older woman and her kid. The kid, Bo, is a majorly enthusiastic Riggins fan. An originally hungover Riggins is dismissive of Bo at first, but by the end of these episodes, he has taught Bo how to throw a football and how to defend himself against bullies. When Bo gives Tim a picture of himself, Tim promises to hang it on his refrigerator. And we bet he did just that. By the time Riggin’s relationship with Bo’s mother ends a few episodes later, you wonder if it is her or Bo he misses more. I think it was Bo.
And that’s just Season One. In Season Two, we get to see Riggins take verbal hits from just about everyone. The kid can’t win for losing. Not that he’s an angel. After all, he is damaged. But he is definitely interesting. And if that ain’t enough, he’s definitely easy on the eyes.
If you aren’t watching this show, get the dvds and start watching. If I can get hooked on a football show, I figure anyone can.
Word. I think my heart softened toward Riggins in Extended Families. Taylor Kitsch is going to go far--he gives that character real heart and breaks yours in the process. I keep hoping against hope that poor little Tim won't be lost in the shuffle.
We were talking about FNL yesterday and I'm trying to recruit more people to this show. Well, you know me, "recruit" seems to be my middle name these days!
Hi Famin. I warmed to him in Wind Sprints and really warmed to him in "El Accidente" when he carried Street down to the boat dock. But it did take a while.
I wish more people would watch my favorite shows. I lost Dark Angel, Veronica Mars, and Space:Above and Beyond due to lack of an audience. I'm doing my best not to lose Friday Night Lights and Supernatural.
Darn it, I KNEW I forgot something when I wrote this blog. Edit, edit, edit.
For those who want to try the show (before they fall in love and buy the dvds for an incredibly cheap price!), here are a couple of sites.
Here is a link to the NBC.com site that has the full episodes. Be sure to scroll all the way to the right to get to the pilot. I actually watched the entire first season on this site. It took me 2 weeks to watch the first 3 episodes, and FOUR DAYS to watch the rest. That's how hard I got hooked on the third episode. Thanks again for the recommendation, Rod!
The other site is hulu.com. You have to sign up to use the site, but it is free.
Are you kidding me? I'm a MAJOR Firefly fan! It is one of two shows I have multiple sets of (the other one is Supernatural). Backups in case the originals break, ya know.
And Mal is another damaged character I absolutely love. Shoot, too late to add him to the first paragraph, too.
I thought you were, but my memory's not what it once was. So when you missed Mal mentions I thought, oh, wait, I have to recruit Tana to the 'Verse!
I'm actually trying to persuade my brother to watch Firefly. He's very reticent. I think he saw the pilot and thought it was okay, but didn't love it. Thing is, it's just the type of show he would like--he likes scifi and he likes action, both definitely more than me! If anything, the surprise is that I actually love the show, since I'm not usually into this particular genre (for Joss I make an exception!). Now I think he's reticent because I've been pushing it on him and he can't imagine liking anything that I do (can you tell he's my younger brother?). Sigh. Now I just want him to watch it so he can eat his words!
The editing on that video was pretty awesome--matched the lyrics pretty tightly! Nice!
I've never seen the show before and, like I said, I'm not into scifi so that's probably why. Is it character-driven? That might get me to watch it. Although, even with BSG I couldn't really get past the scifi/war stuff to enjoy the fabulous character-driven stuff and dialogue and plotting. I trust your taste though Tana so I'm more likely to watch it now than I ever was.
If it makes you feel any better, I've watched all the shows you listed except Space: Above and Beyond. 
So when you missed Mal mentions I thought, oh, wait, I have to recruit Tana to the 'Verse! 