because god damn it, she should be more than tim riggins' girlfriend

[elapses]

So hey, flist, I would like to take a brief moment out of our days to talk about Lyla Garrity.

Because, oh, Lyla, somewhere along the road you became sort of painfully boring? I mean, I guess she started out that way, but remember the end of the first season when she was starting to learn self-reliance and she wrecked her Dad's dealership and told Jason off when he was being twunty and got drunk and snarky in Austin and went out shooting with Waverly? Remember how the first season ended with her throwing away her cheerleading uniform and offering Tyra a ride home? I MISS THAT LYLA DESPERATELY. There's something that is actually incredibly interesting about a girl who bases everything around the men in her life and then has the rug ripped out from under her. And sure, Minka Kelly is one of the weaker links on the show, but LOOK, it's hard to be a super fabulous actress when you have Connie Britton right there to be compared to you. And she's hot, SO LET'S NOT WHINE.

But all that is a moot point, because loving a character in a five-episode season ending arc is hardly the same thing as loving a character in general. So where did Lyla go wrong?

The answer is a) regression (when season two started, the writers were shipping Lyla/Jesus and not Lyla/herself)
and b) lack of diverse storylines:




COLOR CODING KEY:


*Because there are a crapload of football/practice scenes and that means a lot of screentime. Also because sometimes they have those lovely male bonding moments and are collectively "the guys", and... that should be noted.

Also! The dotted lines are supposed to indicate storylines that have sort of tapered off for whatever reason, except looking at it now I forgot to unsolidify Tim/Tyra and possibly other things. Oops.


IN ANY CASE: I feel pretty confident in my assessment that Lyla has less going on than ANY OTHER MAIN CHARACTER. Everyone else gets lots of scenes, Lyla gets to make kissy faces at Tim and occasionally have a moment with her Dad. WHAT ABOUT LYLA AND TAMI? LYLA AND JULIE? LYLA AND SMASH? LYLA AND LANDRY? Some of this show's greatest moments come from the characters you wouldn't think to pair together (I will forever love whichever writer one day thought, "hey, what would happen if we... had some scenes with Tim and Landry together?") (see also: the other two yellow lines).

Anyway that's all. I just wanted to write some kind of love letter to Lylas past in hopes we might get some nice Lylas in the future. YOU CAN ALL MOVE ON NOW.

Although BY THE WAY, I can kind of pretend it makes sense that Tim and Tyra are seniors if I don't think about it too hard (and pretend that Tim got held back?) but THERE IS NO WAY IN THE WORLD LYLA WAS NOT A SENIOR IN SEASON ONE. No 15-year-old would have GOTTEN ENGAGED TO JASON STREET. No one would've let her!

Comments

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

I LOVED when Lyla's dad had his breakdown or whatever and she was stuck looking after him and she was angry at her mom and angry at everybody and she got obsessed with Jesus. I also liked when she threw that water at Jason in season one. And when she went gun shooting with Waverley. And when she DROVE HER CAR INTO HER DAD'S DEALERSHIP, which was never spoken about again if I remember correctly. And also when her shitty car that she bought herself broke down and Tyra had to give her a ride. But overall her character has been sort of shafted, like the writers just do not know what to do with her. It makes me sad because she was one of my favorites.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. EXACTLY. Although I was less into the Jesus thing, because the thing with Lyla is that the way she started out, it was actually kind of creepy how absolutely everything was about Jason or her Dad or Tim or just MEN in general, and Jesus was just another thing besides herself for her to fall back on? BUT MAN, ANGRY LYLA IS WONDERFUL.

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

I want her to hang out with female characters! AND GET A REAL STORYLINE. I thought the Jesus thing made sense but it would've made more sense if it had actually led to character development, you know? I just want her to realize that she has to rely on herself and quit relying on men/god/whatever.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I do agree with that-- I would've liked the Christianity storyline if it had lead to anything, but it... didn't? And now it just seems like a really dumb aberration. And I seriously think she is the only only only person on the show who lacks a single, solitary friendship storyline. (They should've kept Waverly around.)

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

Ugh yeah, she needs friends who are girls. I find it strange that pretty much every other character on the show is fairly well developed and has mostly interesting storylines, and then there's Lyla. She has so much potential and it's being wasted. They should just make her hang out with Tyra or even Julie, or find a way to make her have some scenes with Mrs. Coach. They had an interesting dynamic in season one, didn't they? In the like, three scenes they had.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I mean, I kind of understand why they haven't gone for that kind of Julie/Lyla/Tyra girl-bonding-- their personalities don't automatically all mesh together, and "because they're the girls on the show" is a dumb reason to do a friendship storyline. BUT IT COULD ALSO BE AWESOME.

I don't know, man. I thought they really did do a fabulous job with Lyla in the beginning, but then, they did a fabulous job with everyone in season one. They've fixed pretty much everything that went awry in season two, but it's TIME TO GET BACK ON THE LYLA TRAIN, WRITERS.

(LOL YOU AND YOUR ABSURD NUMBER OF JULIE TAYLOR ICONS.)

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

They don't even need to be friends! They just should have scenes together. LOL, GETTING BACK ON THE LYLA TRAIN. But really they should, because she has so much potential and I love her. The beginning really was when she was best, that scene in the third episode? I think? when she first cheats on Jason breaks my heart. I haven't seen season three but I actually liked her with Tim.

LOL SHE IS MY FAVORITE OKAY. ALSO SHE'S PRETTY. ALSO THAT LAST ONE ALSO HAD SARACEN IN IT, SO THERE.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I don't like Tim/Lyla because I don't like Lyla with Tim, but I absolutely love Tim with Lyla? Does that make sense?

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

Yeah it does and I can kind of see what you mean. I want Lyla to have a lot more sense of self before she gets into a relationship, she uses whatever man is in her life as a crutch.