The mere thought that this was the last I’ll ever get of Friday Night Lights hurts too much to bear, so I’ll abandon speculation until after the rundown. Friday’s episode, “May the Best Man Win,” wasn’t a remotely fitting end to this season (much less the series). It offered a bittersweet resolution to the Smash dilemma and opened up a cliffhanger-y pregnancy storyline for Jason Street, but the majority of the episode deviated to two uncharacteristically comedic storylines of gentlemen vying for the affections of two of Dillon’s loveliest ladies. It wasn’t as phenomenal as some of the recent weeks’ episodes but definitely another solid offering from the greatest drama on television.

Well, we last left Smash in a situation I prognosticated as a bit more dire. TMU is dunzo, but it appears that other colleges are still quite interested. They may not live up to the expectations Smash had set for himself, but there seems to be a solid sense of community at Whitmore College, and it beats the living hell out of a mortifying dead end in Arena Football or working at that damn ice cream parlor. Call me crazy, but there still seems to be a bit of ambiguity around this matter. Smash may have found the place he really belongs, and he may just be cooling his heels until some later planned rectification of the TMU debacle.

It seems like poor Jason Street has been rolling around in the shadows since the beginning of the season. He had epiphany after epiphany, and despite his efforts to get out of Dillon, is now working as a car salesman for Buddy Garrity. What better way to vault him back out of obscurity than a pregnancy scare? Though it is anything but scary for Street, who thinks that he inseminated the boring waitress by the sheer grace of God. She wanted an abortion but seemed to buckle under the pressure of a handsome cripple. If there really is another baby headed to Dillon, may I suggest casting one without alien eyes?

Elsewhere… Riggins is not taking no for an answer - especially not when his competition is an uber-yuppie born-again who, as we learned last week, is deeply afraid of sex. Matt Czurchy is a great guy, but he kind of breaks the suspension of disbelief on Friday Night Lights. I’ve already seen him on too many shows. It doesn’t much matter though, because Lyla can’t possibly deny Riggins for much longer. The goofy romantic story between Eric, Tami and her high school sweetheart was a bit more gratuitous. It was really just an opportunity for executive producer Peter Berg to finally show off his acting skills. It had also been a least a month since the last really good dude fight.

Back to the matter of the show’s future, here is what we know: With the end of the writer’s strike, likelihood that FNL will be one of the series to resume production is of the slim to none-ish variety. Some are reporting that there is a chance, but I’d take that with a considerable amount of salt. As for a return next season, poorly media-trained NBC entertainment honcho Ben Silverman is not optimistic - he is about 30 Rock, and I can’t say I care a hell of a lot. So what can be done to save FNL? Probably nothing, but as this week’s return of Jericho proves, anything is possible in this changing TV landscape. I generally don’t participate in these efforts, but my faith in FNL is enough to motivate me. Best Week Ever is currently the hub of all things save-our-showy, so I encourage you all to check it out.

The season may be over, but I’ll definitely keep the updates coming as the efforts continue and the fate of Friday Night Lights becomes clearer.