The game-changing moment in Jason Street’s life—that spine-altering instant when he attempted a tackle and took a paralyzing hit—is the inciting incident for everything that followed on Friday Night Lights. But it was what Jason Street did after that horrible, life-altering moment that defined him and our opinion of him.

Even at his most despondent, his most bitter and most eager to (justifiably) punch Tim Riggins in the face, Jason is still the sort of person most of us hope, on our very best of days, to become. Through dedication and force of will, he invariably achieves some level of success at almost everything he chooses to do. Physical therapy, coaching Matt Saracen to be a better QB, selling cars, becoming a sports agent . . . heck, when he set his mind to it, he was even pretty talented at flipping houses.

Okay, maybe he didn’t make the U.S. quad rugby team, but he managed to catch on to the game and excel pretty quickly—specifically, after only three episodes. He’s pretty close to perfect, but he’s such a nice guy, with such an all-American, earnest face, that the thought of resenting or disliking him doesn’t even occur to anyone. He’s Jason Street, all moral fiber and forgiveness and fine human being. If he weren’t so affable and cool, he’d probably make us upchuck.

Street, while occasionally capable of cracking a solid joke, is not Captain Comedy. He’s the dogged and  …