S5E13 Always

Friday Night Lights Series Finale 'Always' aired February 9, 2011 on NBC and was named the best TV episode of 2011 by TV Guide. Jason Katims won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for the episode. The finale handled five seasons of character investment across 60 minutes and resolved every thread with the show's signature quality: truth rather than comfort, specific rather than sentimental. Coach Taylor's decision about his career, and the conversation between Eric and Tami Taylor that drives the final act, was identified by critics including Time's James Poniewozik as the scene that functioned as the show's thesis statement about the nature of partnership and the nature of compromise. The 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from 28 critics and Metacritic's 82 reflected a critical consensus that the finale had not merely resolved the show but had made a case for what it had always been trying to say. IMDb users scored the episode 9.6 - the highest single episode score in the series. The final image of Coach Taylor running the same play in a different stadium in a different state is consistently cited as one of American drama's perfect closing images.