FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
''Black Eyes and Broken Hearts'' Feb. 14 (NBC)
In dealing with the aftermath of a coach's racist remarks about the differences between black and white football players, FNL could have patronized us with lessons. Instead, we got Coach Taylor's (Kyle Chandler) bullheaded struggle to decide what's right; newly empowered running back Smash (Gaius Charles) coldly breaking his boycott to lead the black players onto the team bus; the barbed-wire tension of the team's on-field confrontation with true racism; that night's frightening standoff and its unexpected hero. Subtle yet powerfully real, this ep anchored a transcendent first season. — Whitney Pastorek