Hart of Dixie

Woohoo! Another fabulous episode of Hart of Dixie! Ya’ll know one of the things that I am loving about this show is that even though it seems to be taking forever to get Wade and Zoe together, I don’t feel like everything else is filler on the way there. It’s just awesome all around and some of the lines are great. Actually, a lot of the lines are great.

So this week featured seemingly different storylines that ended up weaving together fairly well. Lemon wanted to be a Memory Matron (I don’t remember hearing the name of the group before but Lemon’s been working on this for a while) so she had Delia Ann and her husband over to dinner with her and George. Unfortunately, George’s competitive side came out and he did the most ridiculously awesome winner’s dance after winning Pictionary. So later, Lemon keeps trying to suck up to Delia Ann (who isn’t having a bit of it) and even learns (sort of) that Delia Ann is having an affair. Lemon’s kinda freaking out, as she does, and for some reason George finally gets fed up and tells her it has to stop or he’s done. I’m not really sure how I feel about this. George has voiced his frustration before but this still felt a little too out of left field. We’ll see how things develop next week though to really judge. Lemon lost the Memory Matron title to Annabeth but I think her insider gossip will get her back on top. I’m kind of hoping Annabeth will get to keep the title too though. Maybe they can be co-matrons. I hate that all of that made sense to me. Read the rest of this entry »

The Belle Motto: “I’m a belle, a southern belle, a ‘Bama belle, a Dixie belle! I got secrets, I won’t tell, y’all don’t like it, go to hell! Oh soldier, what’s your pleasure?!”

Y’all have no idea how much it warmed my heart that Hart of Dixie was back. In a week of hiatuses or disappointing episodes, this was a breath of fresh air. It was fun, poignant, and moved the story along. And while it didn’t have much in the way of Wade/Zoe moments, it did help cement Zoe into the town more. That was one of my frustrations before the break that we’d keep on with this Zoe’s going back to New York business and today was incredibly touching.

Now I’m trying a little something different and going with a quick narrative and then sharing quick observations about different moments. If you like this style, please let me know in the comments. Be aware that I will expand on some of the observations if I keep this style of recap.

The episode had two basic storylines, with an underlying theme of family. Well three story lines. Lavon’s was quickest, as he’s trying to date again but no one will date him because he told Dede he wanted to marry her. Once he proved to Dede that he wasn’t crazy, however, she agreed to date him again. Which I sort of think she did a little manipulating of her own but until Lemon sorts herself out, Dede & Lavon seem really fun.

George was trying to keep Crazy Earl (Wade’s dad) from selling his land so that a supermarket can’t be built in Bluebell, though George’s part in the story was fairly minimal. Wade however wanted his dad to sell so he’d quit bothering him for money, until he learned that Earl really does love him, in his own bizarre way. Wilson Bethel makes me all teary-eyed and achy inside when he does his puppy dog eyes.

The main focus though was in Zoe’s desire to get to know her southern family and understand her roots. Turns out her legacy is to be a belle of Bluebell, and so she set out to join the belles through a series of initiations. I found the initiations highly entertaining, especially as they perfectly fit the kinds of things Zoe wouldn’t know how to do. Plus Lemon plotting is one of my favorite things on television. The initiation also gave Lemon and Zoe a chance to have some time together and I have to say, I thought I saw the beginnings of a beautiful friendship. Ultimately, Zoe realized that she could appreciate her family without having to be a belle and Lemon took another step in realizing that she doesn’t have to become her mother.

All in all, I thought it was a good episode. There was character development and I liked that we didn’t jump right back into the love triangle/square of it all. This was refreshing and comforting all at the same time.
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Seeing as I have a thing lately for slow smiles by boys in plaid shirts...

Here’s the deal, gang. I must have rewritten large portions of this recap eight times. There was just something about the episode overall that I didn’t like and I really couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I felt the same way about this week’s episode of Once Upon a Time, the last new Happy Endings episode and this week’s How I Met Your Mother. I laughed, I cried, I swooned and I loved tons of little moments on all of these shows but something just felt off. However, earlier this evening, I happened to read Alan Sepinwall’s HIMYM recap and he noted that the overarching framework of the episode was bad. The actors gave phenomenal performances, the dialogue was on in most places and all the favorite moments were there. But instead of talking about that, he was left having to discuss how the big picture story was terrible and hurt the rest of the episode. I think that’s what happened here for me. I loved the flashbacks, the various partnerships, the montage, that last scene and so many little moments. But as a whole, this episode felt off. I still can’t quite pinpoint it but I’ve just got a weird aftertaste, like when you drink the last of a bottle of wine and its sort of nasty at the end, even though the wine was good.

Anyway, with that in mind, I’m going to break it down a little quicker since I’ve changed so much of my recap today. Basically, it’s the holidays in Bluebell and as seems to be the tradition down there now, they do things a little differently. And look, the whole Miss Cinnamon Cider wasn’t that much of a reach for a town event but if they’re going to keep doing bullshit variations on every fucking holiday, I’m going to have a problem. Just embrace fucking Christmas. Wade is charged with finding the perfect tree so George can take the credit and Lemon will be happy. Wade initially gets Charlie Brown’s perfect tree and when he tries to pass the Christmas spirit on to George, George is all, whatever Linus, I want the big fucking Douglas fir. So they go off to get a tree and end up in jail. (Oh don’t worry, we’ll cover more of this, I just want to cover the plot points quickly). Meanwhile, the Miss Cinnamon Cider has a multitude of things going on with it. First, there’s this whole rivalry throwdown between Zoe & Lemon over the girls they’re coaching (Rose & Magnolia-oh this show, so clever … not) that just did not sit right with me as a whole. Lavon is sort of helping Zoe, sort of dealing with Lemon, sort of getting his hopes up and not at all being a mayor in most respects. Lemon is struggling because the pageant always brings back memories of her mother and we see that it was during one such time (when George was gone in New York) that she met and hooked up with/fell for Lavon.

Because I’m so frustrated with this episode as a whole, I’m splitting the rest up as the things I loved, things I hated, and things I was sort of meh about.

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The tricky trio hard at work.

There’s a start to this recap below and it still matters but now there’s more. So I wrote up the intro to the recap on Monday night. I had a lot going on so I couldn’t watch the show until later but I thought well, I’ll have that done and then Tuesday when I get home from work I can finish. Then it was a family crisis, then I got these weird chest pains and spent all night last night trying to breathe and wondering if I was going to die. True story. And now this morning I feel sick to my stomach and I’m tired and I fucking hate Thanksgiving thanks to a shitshow of bad memories so if this recap feels even more disjointed than ever that’s why.

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Break another little piece of my heart.

My deepest apologies for the lateness of this recap. I just started a new job and it marks my first time in about six years working a schedule that starts in the morning so I am all floopy right now. Luckily, SB was kind enough to allow me a couple extra days to get this recap done right for ya’ll so I hope you’ll still fill it with comments.

While there actually was quite a bit going on in this episode, I think we finally got to really understand the characters and the relationships that have been established since the pilot—and I have a lot to say about them. So I had this whole recap done with, like, coverage of the episode and shit and then I started thinking and over-analyzing today at work. Which basically means this recap is going to be like oodles longer than any recap should be but I hope you all like it. Fuck it, you all will like it or I’ll sic Batman!Nolan on you.

Let’s start by pointing out what Hart of Dixie is. This show is Dawson’s Creek. If Dawson’s Creek didn’t have Van der Shit starring and actually made decent use of the female cast and had town events. But seriously, there’s a lot of little nuances that are the same. For example, everyone I know watches for Wade. We enjoy Rachel Bilson & Scott Porter, but Wilson Bethel is the one winning hearts. I know he hasn’t bought anyone a wall but it’s only the first season.  Okay, so that was basically the tip of the iceberg because a lot of shit went down this episode and I want to get into all of it. Grab a glass of sweet tea and let’s get to it.

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Question of the Week

So I know we all missed our chance at shirtless Wade last week but never fear, the hotness is back this week on Hart of Dixie!

This week, Zoe kicks us off in the doldrums. She’s not sleeping well and is clearly having one of those everything-in-my-life-sucks-even-though-it-really-doesn’t-but-I-still-hate-the-world-right-now days. (I have those days often and then I get kill innocent people urges). She’s refusing to call her mother back (smart girl) and not even taking that much offense to Lemon.

Lemon, meanwhile, is having sister issues and Brick is in that awesome place of never being able to have the right answer because someone will be pissed off no matter what he says. Also, Brick is right, women really shouldn’t have babies on the day of a football game. My friend just had her son the day after the game out of respect. It’s really the only acceptable solution. I love that Brick gave up the pregnant woman to Zoe though.

So Zoe goes off to help the pregnant woman, though nervous about driving since she doesn’t drive in New York. Apparently Lavon has been driving her around but he has plans so he allows her to take the Navigator. Those plans, btw, consist of Lavon & Wade watching the women’s sand volleyball tournaments on television. And I’d say something  appropriately outraged about the objectification of women athletes but I give out the porny rainboot award and this is The CW. Objectification is like the unwritten mission of every show.

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I’ve got so much going on that blowing my brains out seems like a good option right now so while I love Hart of Dixie, I don’t have as much time available to analyze each of Wilson Bethel’s stomach muscles. That said, this was quite the episode so let’s get to it.

So Zoe has the practice to herself, she got to tell the Pastor and his wife that they have syphilis, a new nurse (not really new) joined the practice, Lavon is having issues with all of his commitments and town politics, the town hates Zoe for splitting up the Mayfairs, Lemon is freaking out over living up to her mother’s legacy (so called it last week), and George still exists but he exists slightly more sexily this week.

Clearly this week was about parental issues. Zoe had to finally acknowledge that her mother, whom she loves, cheated, resulting in Zoe’s birth and explaining why Zoe has no father. Lemon is desperately trying to live up to everything her mother accomplished while falling apart on the inside. Wade has a crazy drunk father to deal with on a monthly basis.

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