Hart of Dixie 3.19 Review: “A Better Man”

On the surface this appeared to be a ridiculous episode with the unusual amount of singing and dancing that you normally see on Glee, but for the dedicated Hart of Dixie fans it was the right amount of goofiness that we’ve come to love.

There was still plenty of relationship drama mixed in with most of the characters, but perhaps my favorite storyline of the night involved Lavon and Annabeth.  AB is still upset that Lavon showed up drunk at her house last week accusing her new boyfriend of using her, and naturally she tells the Belles about it.  They’re possibly even more upset than she is, and they decide they’re going to protest the annual Mayoral Toast & Roast.

That’s right, this latest town event is hosted by the Bluebell Fraternal Order of Owls.  This is the first time we’ve seen this mens’ club, and it is hilarious.  Complete with an actual owl mascot and fancy fez caps, the men of Bluebell panic when the Belles drop out of their show.  Annabeth even goes so far as to start a new tradition among the Belles just to spite Lavon: the first annual “Leader of the Belles Toast & Roast” held on the same night as his.  A song and dance mashup of the ladies singing Katy Perry’s “Roar” and the gentlemen singing “Brotherhood of Men” was a scene straight out of Glee.

Tensions between the groups got even worse when they both realized Tom Long is the only person in town who can operate a light and sound board.  Lavon and AB represent their clubs to persuade Tom to work for them, and instead they just stressed the poor guy out to no end.  We briefly saw Tom’s wife Wanda at the doctor’s office earlier talking to Brick about her infertility issues, and this added stress on Tom doesn’t help their problems.  At one point, Brick, Lavon, and AB are awkwardly giving Tom a pep talk in his and Wanda’s bedroom.  I especially loved that we got to see the adorable baby goat that Tom and Wanda kept from the Renaissance Faire!

Elsewhere, George Tucker is an absolute mess.  He can’t stop thinking about Lemon so he gladly welcomes a date set up with a Sunday school teacher by Reverend Mayfair.  Lulubelle turns out to be the stereotypical TV/movie librarian type who acts one way in front of her elders and employers, and the second she’s free, she lets her hair down and goes wild.

Adding to dance portion of the episode, Lemon ends up participating in a ballroom dancing competition with a health inspector in the hopes of earning a better grade than an A- for Fancie’s.  This woman made a cute couple with Brick, who unfortunately got called off to work so Lemon stepped in to continue to butter May up so that she would give the restaurant a perfect grade.  They had a wonderful time until George ultimately screwed everything up by crashing (and trashing) Fancie’s kitchen with his date.

Wade and Vivian’s relationship is all but officially over, and I can’t help but feel so bad for Wade.  He’s matured so much since he’s been with Vivian, and she has the nerve to treat him like dirt all of a sudden.  It turns out Wade’s suspicions about her ex-husband Charles weren’t wrong at all because he does want her back.  Only thing is, Vivian isn’t really sure of what she wants yet.  Instead of actually talking to each other about what is or isn’t going on, Wade and Vivian put Zoe in the middle of their relationship.  Vivian proves herself to be a horrible person when she goes away with her ex-husband for the weekend to start looking at houses for their big move to Baton Rouge together before she even had the guts to officially call it off with Wade.  Even Zoe feels terrible for Wade.  This break-up had to happen eventually but Wade was truly a changed man this year and he deserved better than this.

What did you think of the breakup?  Any predictions yet on how you hope the season ends?

[Photo: Danny Feld/The CW — © 2014 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.]