{alltv} Tipsy at The Landing Strip: Saying Goodbye to Friday Night Lights' Landry Clarke

It's the least Friday Night Lights could do for Landry.

After he was forced to beat a guy to death, and later left hanging on the side of the road by Tyra and unceremoniously dumped by Jess, Landry (Jesse Plemons) got to spend his last days bumming around with Dillon's finest. I can think of no better way to send the guy off, still standing — and smiling.

In Wednesday's fifth-season premiere on DirecTV, there were no more stakes for Landry. No heartbreak lurking, no body to pitch in the river (count your blessings). With his bags pre-packed by mom and Rice University waiting, there was only Landry, ever-cheeky and already wistful for the cool treats and hot eats at the Alamo Freeze.

Landry got in some last-minute digs at Jimmy during Crucifictorious' final jam session ("You don't have to be that flashy Jimmy, a little bit goes a long way"). Judging by the band's well-attended final show, he's given Dillon a lasting taste for Christian death metal, too. And who didn't get a kick out of hearing that Grandma Saracen had her nurse upload their songs to her iPod?

I would have loved to see Matt (Zach Gilford) return to banter with Landry one more time, or maybe have some of the old Panthers take him to the 50-yard line to toss the ball around. But many have moved on, and not everyone needs a big sentimental moment.

Instead, we got something quieter and more fitting: Landry and Julie (Aimee Teegarden) in a parking lot, on the precipice of adulthood, reminiscing about high school but excited for what's to come. "I always pictured my last night in Dillon to be, I don't know, epic in some way," Landry says. "You want epic?" Julie asks.

Cut to Landry at The Landing Strip, where he's drunk himself into a happily tipsy state. After Julie leaves him with cab money and a friendly farewell, Landry plucks up for the dancer paying him attention. His final words? "I wanna know absolutely everything there is to know about you."

Landry didn't get the fireworks as far as Friday Night Lights exits go. His was not the hard-won victory of Smash going to play college football, nor the emotional reunion between Jason and his family in New York. But maybe he got something better — some booze and a little more time in Dillon.

What did you think of Landry's send-off, buzzed and straddled by a stripper? Were you hoping for something else? Or were you, like Landry, pretty satisfied?