• by Ed Martin , June 3, 2010

I first saw this week's episode of "Friday Night Lights" six months ago, right before it debuted on DirecTV, and it has haunted me ever since. Now that it is making its NBC premiere (Friday at 8 p.m.), I'm caught up in it all over again.

Titled "The Son," it may be the most powerful hour of advertiser-supported television this season. That's certainly up for debate, given the many unforgettable episodes of ABC's "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy," FX's "Damages" and AMC's "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" that made this one of the strongest seasons in years. But one thing cannot be argued: In this episode Zach Gilford, the supremely talented young actor who plays Matt Saracen, gives one of the best performances of 2009 (on DirecTV) and 2010 (on NBC). It is so intense you may forget that you are watching a scripted series and have instead stumbled upon a live feed of a young man dealing with the greatest emotional crisis of his life. I've seen actors win Oscars for less demanding and less satisfying work.

At the end of last week's episode, Matt -- the former Dillon Panthers quarterback who chose to remain in town after graduation and care for his ailing grandmother rather than pursue his dream of attending art school -- suffered a terrible blow with the news that his estranged father was killed in Iraq. Matt's dad has been serving overseas since before the series began, though he did come home at one point, was clearly unhappy back in Dillon and signed up for yet another tour of duty. Matt's mom has been largely absent as well, though she lives nearby and has made a slow effort to re-enter her son's life. But it has fallen to Matt to live with, care for and support his grandmother, first while he was in high school, and now in a dead-end job at a pizza place, so he has learned how to be independent and take care of others, though not to accept help when he needs it.

There are two sequences in this hour that are so raw they are impossible to shake. Surprisingly, the actual funeral at the end isn't one of them, though it's pretty damned remarkable, too. (In one of those real-life moments that "FNL" does so much better than just about any other show on television, a character that left the series this season suddenly appears at the funeral, without any fanfare, having come home simply to be with family and friends at this difficult time.)

In the first of these sequences, Matt's buddies bring him back to the old Panthers field on the night before the funeral to down a few beers and listen to him talk about the father he never really knew or liked. Then they accompany him to the funeral home so that he can actually see his dad's corpse in advance of the closed-casket ceremony, unaware of just how mangled it is. Words cannot accurately describe the expression on Gilford's face or the look in his eyes when Matt finally sees what's left of his father; even the expression "absolute horror" doesn't seem strong enough. I've never really seen anything like it from any actor in a television drama, but Gilford brilliantly illuminates the full emotional impact of the moment in such a way as to make the viewer feel like another character in that suddenly very uncomfortable room. These are amazing scenes as well for Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons and Derek Phillips -- the actors who play Tim Riggins, Landry Clarke and Billy Riggins, respectively -- as they are struck at first by their friend's restrained emotional outpouring (on the football field) and then by his agony (at the funeral home) and made to feel powerless against both.

The second unforgettable sequences finds the thoroughly shaken Matt arriving late for dinner with his girlfriend Julie and her parents after his experience at the funeral home -- only to break down at their dining room table, telling them how much he hates his father and wants to tell him so to his face, then adding, "But he doesn't even have a face." Matt leaves, and once he's outside he's too overcome with grief to talk. The always-wise Coach Eric Taylor (played to perfection as always by Kyle Chandler) follows to silently walk him home.

Any episode of any other series would be elevated by including two so flawlessly constructed sequences. Tellingly, there are many additional marvelous scenes featuring other characters in different storylines, but it is the drama of Matt's loss that burns through the screen. It does so in a way that makes a story we have seen hundreds of times before feel like something completely new. Show-runners throughout the industry should be made to study every second of it.

And so, my intense frustration over the series' weak ratings and lack of industry recognition during awards season is again at a boiling point. There are many fine dramas on television, but there are none better than "Friday Night Lights." Others may equal it, but when "FNL" is really on, as it is in this week's episode, nothing can pass it. The ugly reality is, the series and its cast (including the amazing Gilford) will probably be ignored next month when the Emmy nominations are announced. What more do people want?