The Heartless Bastards' Erika Wennerstrom; image courtesy of brooklynvegan.com
Last night’s episode of Friday Night Lights, rebroadcast on NBC falling season four’s original run on DirecTV, was noteworthy for a whole host of reasons. ”Stay” followed ”The Son,” an episode that broke my heart with its focus on Matt Saracen, the character who has consistently broken my heart throughout the series’ run. While in some ways less heavy than the previous episode, “Stay” drew attention toward two young Dillon couples whose relationships are in jeopardy. One couple –frustrated Dillon townie Saracen and senior Julie Taylor — left town for Austin and came back uncertain if they could remain a couple. Refreshingly, this dischord came not out of a lack of love but from a mature realization that one of them will be starting college next fall and the other really needs to get off a sinking ship.
I had a few quibbles with the episode, of course. One involves Saracen and Taylor’s destination. The couple go to the generically named Austin Indie Music Festival, which seems like an awkward collusion of Fun Fun Fun Fest and South By Southwest. While I believe the show does an acceptional job utilizing the capital (including my neighborhood) as a stand-in for fictional West Texas rural suburb Dillon, it has a habit of clumsily shoehorning in references to the city, its music scene, and the University of Texas. The festival is an example, as is the location for one of the shows Saracen and Taylor attend. To an outsider, seeing a band play the courtyard at Emo’s may not warrant objection. But most regulars will tell you that the atrium is usually a communal space between the venue’s indoor and outdoor stage areas. In the nine years I’ve lived here and the numerous concerts I’ve attended at Emo’s, I’ve never seen a musical act perform in that particular area. I’m sure the spot was chosen because it was easier to light, stage, and film. But the location does kick some folks out of the text, perhaps suggesting the limitations of trying to doggedly capture and recreate actual spaces for television.
That said, I enjoyed that The Heartless Bastards were featured so prominently in the episode. For one, they can wail — especially guitarist and lead singer Erika Wennerstrom, who took up residency in Austin a few years back. For another, their gritty sound has a crossover appeal that evokes fellow Ohioans The Black Keys as well as Friday Night Lights‘ handle on candid performances and Dogmaesque cinematography.
Also, the inclusion of a band like The Heartless Bastards lines up with the series’ interest in aligning with indie and indie-friendly musical acts through their characters and as a marketing strategy. And regardless of what happens to this young couple, I take comfort in knowing that Wennerstrom’s band might help them get through it.
