You’d think that being happy would be a cornerstone of the Hart of Dixie DNA. I mean, this is a warm, fluffy CW dramedy that takes place in an amiable southern town with romance to spare. However, this season of Hart of Dixie has found several characters lacking direction and trying to figure out what makes them happy. They may be in an environment that seems like the place to go to find your smile again, but that doesn’t stop the issues that have come to the surface this season regarding who they are, who they want to be, and how they might go about achieving the life that they’ve always wanted to live.
Armadillos and Leprosy
The episode opens with a shirtless Wade singing “Big Rock Candy Mountain” while painting in Zoe’s room. Really. Once the two exchange words about paint fumes, off-key singing, and skin showing, Dr. Hart has to get ready for a reporter from the alumni magazine at Johns Hopkins that’s headed to BlueBell to interview her about her practice; still feeling inadequate around anybody from her “old life”, especially since she didn’t become a powerful heart surgeon like her father, Zoe embellished where she was at in her career. In order to try and compete with her peers that are participating in Doctors Without Borders and working on a cure for cancer, she wrote in that, among other truth stretches, she had reinvented healthcare in BlueBell and had “retired”. Of course, that means that the time until the reporter comes will be incredibly hectic, as Zoe has to, like, reinvent healthcare in 24 hours. In the middle of laying out her Three Point Initiative for a healthier town, which included more than a little shaming of the people at the Rammer Jammer, the reporter arrives early.
And sees nothing of note that he could report. No medical anomalies, nothing that matched up to the picture that she painted in her e-mail. Tom Long came in with a rash, which sent the reporter headed for the next plane back to the city, but there was more to it than that. Tom had numb fingers and keratitis (an inflamed cornea), all of which, combined with the coppery rash, indicated leprosy. Or something closed to it, at least. Once she tries to get information from Tom about where he had been, who he could have infected, and where he could have picked this up, she finds out that he had done yard work for Crazy Earl (Wade’s father); while leaving him in quarantine, Dr. Hart and Wade head up to Earl’s cabin to warn him that he might be infected as welll. Wade thinks that she’s making the entire thing up to make her situation look better to the reporter, but it turns out that she had it right; Earl had chased Randy (an armadillo) off the property and had gotten his hands on him, possibly getting himself contaminated by the animal. According to Dr. Hart, armadillos are responsible for 15% of all leprosy cases in America, so they have to find Randy and get him to a safe, secure location away from everybody else.
Earl also made mention of how much Wade had been talking about Zoe to him, which made the good doctor happy and allowed her to get in a few digs at him while trying to catch the armadillo, particularly relating to him being over at her house a lot with his shirt off. Wade has maintained that he’s not emotionally invested in their situation and that their arrangement had been of mostly physical benefit to him, but they’re not consistent with his actions; Dr. Hart has another piece of evidence to further her argument about him being closed off and not willing to lay everything out on the table. The two eventually catch Randy in a trap and bring him back to the doctor’s office, the reporter, meanwhile, is not impressed with either the armadillo or the fact that Tom ended up not having leprosy. (He had elevated levels of sodium and hypericin, an ingredient found in the anxiety medications that he had taken before his date with Wanda, where they would consummate their relationship.)
Zoe is, of course, upset about him leaving without getting a favorable story, but Wade calls her out on her warped perspective; Zoe has built up this standard for herself that she feels like she has to live up to to be happy. The perfect man, the perfect house, the perfect job – she has a blueprint that she measures every part of her life against and if they don’t fit into that blueprint, no matter how much they make her happy, she won’t let herself include it in her life. Wade argues that she needs to “change her picture or change her life”, meaning that she needs to alter her expectations that she’s not changed since moving to BlueBell or make a major overhaul in her life, because she’s setting herself up for continual disappointment going like she is now. There’s no way Dr. Hart can be (or ever will be) happy holding her “ideal” future up to that high of a standard and, according to Wade, she should be living life for what it is rather than what it should be.
The talk hits home for Zoe, who decides to join Wade for a round of (strip) Halo later that night.
The Great Mediator
George comes over to talk to Lemon about the fact that he has a date that night. Brick is, of course, angry at the man who left his daughter at the altar “flaunting” his new single life in her face, while Lemon is noticeably taken off guard, which is something major to say about the ever-steady Lemon Breeland. Later that evening, George and his date, a woman from Pensacola that compliments him on the performance last week, are interrupted by Brick, who had been at the bar commiserating with the bar tender about his long distance relationship with Emily. Brick offers to buy them a drink and while George would love nothing more than to make him go away, he graciously accepts as Brick pulls out a chair. It doesn’t take long for the truth to come out about the recent drama between the two men, Brick telling the date about George leaving Lemon at the altar and getting into an argument with George that gets them kicked out of the restaurant.
Fresh off another night of nightmares about losing the election, Lavon comes upon a campaign event for Ruby (“Ruby for Change”), wherein his former flame is passing out blue cupcakes shaped like bells. After she urges him to drop out of the race and confirms that her campaign is indeed legit, Ruby challenges Lavon to name why he wants to be mayor. Any reason, really, since she thinks that he merely fell into the job and is only doing it because it’s an easy gig. Lavon can’t find a reason right off, confirming (in Ruby’s mind) that he’s not fit for the job and that she might be able to win the election after all.
After George and Brick’s argument spills onto the streets of BlueBell, Lavon breaks the two of them up, quieted them down to keep them from waking up the Hendersons baby, and tries to mediate. The mayor has each man face each other and say what they would tell the other if they could only tell them one more thing. George breaks down and apologizes to Brick again for hurting Lemon, claiming to have never wanted to do bad by her and by him, as Brick had been like a father to him. Brick lowers the wall that he has around himself and makes himself vulnerable to George, informing him that he thought of the young attorney as a son and that Lemon wasn’t the only one to have lost something when the wedding didn’t happen. Touched by the other’s vulnerability and honesty, they share a handshake that segues into a hug fairly quickly.
Lavon runs into Ruby and tells her that that’s why he wants to be mayor; he’s a problem solver and he likes/is good at solving the problems of the residents of BlueBell. Additionally, much to her chagrin, he knows that the job fell into his lap, but the Lavon Hayes that Ruby knew isn’t the Lavon Hayes standing before her today. The irresponsible, entitled, scared kid that avoided her rather than breaking up with her is now a much reverred man in the BlueBell community and he won’t be going down without a fight this election season.
Losing My Direction
Once Lemon finds out about George getting back out into the world and going on his first date since the break-up, any attempt that she had made to become an independent woman kind of goes out the window. Rather than stay the course and make it through her time of being on the lips of every resident in BlueBell, Lemon rushes to Annabeth and wants her friend to come out man hunting with her. Lemon wants to be able to “one up” George and find a man to be in a relationship with that night, thus trumping his mere date and saving herself the agony of being looked upon like an old maid. Annabeth may have initially been resistant to the idea, but her finalized divorce papers had come in the mail recently and she needed a night out as much as Lemon did.
When they head out shopping to buy new dresses for their evening away from BlueBell, the two inadvertently oversee the woman who George would be going out with later trying on a short, strapless pink dress. Any chance of Lemon backing out went out the window then, as she immediately grabbed an attention-grabbing dress and started holding it up to Annabeth. Lemon ends up picking out the same dress that George’s date did, only pairing it with a tan cardigan because she’s Lemon, while Annabeth dons a single-strap purple dress and pulled-back hair; the two head off to an out-of-town bar, complete with live performers, in order to scope out guys free of BlueBell judgment. When Lemon finds one that she likes, a handsome orthodontist named Walt whose uncle knows Brick well, she has to “fight” for him with Ruby, who was having her own girl’s night with Cricket and who had sent him a drink before Lemon could make a move.
But Lemon Breeland doesn’t give up that easily, immediately turning on the charm with a forearm graze here, a bright smile there. While trying to come off like the flirty, carefree southern belle that she wants to be, but hasn’t shown much yet, Lemon manages to throw in a few quips in Ruby’s direction, intimating to Walt that she’s a drunk and eventually taking off the cardigan once Ruby brings up what happened with George. That proved to be the trump card, with Lemon feigning being dizzy right after and having Walt escort her outside for fresh air, much to the delight of Cricket and Annabeth.
Once out at the romantic cafe, bathed in moonlight, Walt kisses Lemon at arguably the perfect moment. However, as much as she wants to be ready to date and wants to move on in order not to appear weak, Lemon’s not ready to be that girl yet, the girl who dates around and has to kiss “Mrs. George Tucker” goodbye once and for all. It’s a brave choice to make because Lemon could have very easily latched on to Walt and become the trophy wife that she had always dreamed of being; that’s not good enough for her anymore, though.
Once back in town, Lemon and Annabeth convene on the latter’s houseboat over wine and talk about the past couple of weeks, with Annabeth questioning what happened to the Lemon that wanted to get an apartment, get a job, become her own woman. That woman, quite frankly, got terrified once she failed at being a waitress at the Rammer Jammer and once she saw that building a life would take a serious amount of blood, sweat, and tears. Lemon’s been so protected that she’s not used at not being able to do something, so not immediately falling into another relationship and not immediately having a job following her break-up threw her for a bit of a loop.
Annabeth’s advice? For one, she offers up the houseboat as a place for Lemon to stay and secondly, she tells her friend to figure out what she’s good at and go for it. At the bar with Walt, Lemon displayed her never-say-die attitude and ability to will something into existence; she wanted her man, she got him and I don’t know if Ruby could have done anything to stop her once she got rolling. Lemon decides to become Lavon’s campaign manager as a way to apply herself and use her competitive streak (and hatred for Ruby) in a more constructive way. There might be lingering awkwardness between the two (Lavon will be delivering his answer on Monday), but they might be able to unite in their love for BlueBell and desire to take home a win come November.
Additional thoughts and observations:
-Here’s an article about the link between armadillos and leprosy.
-“His name is Randy. With a Y.” I can’t.
-So, this episode made me cry. I know, total weenie. But hear me out. I’m a fairly emotional person and all that, but Hart of Dixie has always been the show I watched to smile/laugh at, look at cute boys, and pine over the fact that I wanted to be bros with Lavon and Zoe. It’s often been feel good yet brought just enough emotional resonance to keep me caring about the characters and ground the show when it became too broad; it’s never hit me like it did here. Part of that came from how strong the writing was, effortlessly balancing the tones that it wanted to hit and highlighting the fact that even the ones that look like they’ve got it together don’t, but several of the night’s top moments resonated with me on a personal level. Annabeth’s comments to Lemon on the houseboat, Lavon mentioning that who he was before isn’t who he is now, Lemon’s fear of being out on her own and making a mistake, Wade’s (beautiful) speech about the way that Dr. Hart operates (and why that’s no way to live) – they all hit something in my personal life and felt like the words that I needed to hear and the actions that I needed to see. Thank you.
-George might have been the handsomest he’s ever been standing outside Lemon’s house waiting for her to come talk to him. In turn, I might have had a moment when they panned to him.
-George’s date is supposed to appear in another episode. Think they’ll be able to make it past what happened with Brick?
-I liked George and Zoe running into one another and not making a big thing about it.
-What do you think about Ruby so far? As a person, I don’t care for her, because I think she’s mean and extremely petty. As a character, I think she’s a pretty good foe for Lemon and Lavon.
-In an episode that I pretty much adored, I think my favorite part was the running commentary from Cricket and Annabeth during Lemon’s little showout in front of Walt.
-Next week on Hart of Dixie: Zoe gets set up with Ruby’s cousin, while Lemon begins working on Lavon’s campaign and Brick and Magnolia plot to get Lemon to come back.
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