Hart of Dixie Season 2 Finale Recap: Did Zoe Go to New York?

It’s the morning after prom and Zoe wakes up, feeling refreshed and happy. Until, that is, she sees Wade snoring beside her. He wakes up and asks her if she’s ready to go again, causing her to scream in horror. And, of course, wake up from the dream she was having. Zoe seems relieved that her night with Wade turned out to be a dream and promptly hears the shower running. Out walks Wade, clad only in a towel, while George is in the doorway, upset at his horrible timing once again. He storms out of the room after yet another opportunity for him to be with Zoe is ruined, while Wade spends the morning in quite a good mood.

Zoe is less enthused by the latest developments in her love life, especially once she hears from Wanda that Tansy left George (and subsequently, BlueBell) the previous night. She goes to George’s boat where she finds him extremely irritated at her. He tells her that she had her chance with him and she’s living in a fantasy world if she thinks that she’s hung up on him. In his mind, she’s only hung up on one person and that’s Wade, no matter how much she tries to deny that she has feelings for him. Upset at the current state of her life, Zoe interrupts Lavon and AnnaBeth having a moment alone in his bedroom to ask their advice; they feel as if she should go to the New York wedding she mentioned and get some time away from BlueBell. She still doesn’t want to go, due to already being the weird doctor who moved to Alabama. Being the weird doctor who moved to Alabama and is still at the singles table is too much for her to deal with and she leaves, frustrated at not getting the answers that she wants.

While eating crullers in bed, AnnaBeth’s way of making herself feel better, Zoe gets a visit from Wade, carrying along a six-pack of beer. It’s enough to push her to go to New York, the idea that he hasn’t changed an ounce since their time together, and she does make her plane, where she ends up sitting next to an older woman who offers her oatmeal squares. The woman had never been to New York and immediately pegs Zoe as being someone familiar with the big city before marveling at the fact that the doctor is single. Even though Zoe insists that it’s a long story, the woman (a compulsive gambler with foot odor who has been married for 12 years) decides to prod her to spill everything that’s been going on.

However, it’s not long after that there’s a medical emergency on the plane and all doctors are called on. Zoe gets up and sees that there’s another physician on board – Jonah. The two tend to a man who recently had a motorcycle accident and was cleared to fly, although his breathing had become shallow while on the plane. Jonah deduces that there’s a bubble of air that developed over his heart that’s making it hard for him to breathe and nearly goes in to cut on the man when Zoe notices that his lips were blue. That means that it’s not a heart problem – it’s a lung problem. Namely, glycemia, which she treats thanks to an epipen from her seatmate. The man’s lungs will be open at least long enough for the plane to land, making Zoe a hero.

Zoe and Jonah get off the plane and he suggests that, since she was so rejuvenated by what happened on the plane, she spend the summer in New York. She’d get away from the drama in her life and have the opportunity to sharpen her surgical skills, which can only make her a better doctor for the people in BlueBell. When Zoe runs into Wade at a diner while out with Jonah (and on the way to Atlanta), the two go outside to talk and Wade tells her that she saw more in him than he did in himself and that it was an ideal that was hard for him to live up to. It was easier for him to wreck it rather than disappoint her. He confesses that he knows how much he hurt her and that he’s willing to do anything it takes to be the man she saw him as. He then tells her he loves her, to which she responds “wow” and mentions needing space/time to sort things out. She had just called her chief and got a job in New York for the summer.

Zoe arrives at her friend’s wedding and has a moment where she seems upset about still being at the singles table. She thinks about calling George and Wade before Jonah shows up. He claims that he didn’t want her to spend her first night in New York alone and she ultimately agrees to the arrangement.

Glory on Ya
Lemon is at the Rammer Jammer and Magnolia comes by asking to go to a secret show country group Gloriana was having in Birmingham. As she has a history paper due on Monday, Lemon refuses to let her go, even with Brick out of town on another getaway. It’s then time for the Belle meeting, of which Lemon has been late to every time this month. One of the members suggests electing an interim leader until things at the Rammer Jammer become easier and while AnnaBeth quickly refuses the nomination, Crickett accepts it with open arms and begins thinking about what color she wants her gavel. Lemon gets upset at the idea of being replaced, as well as one of the Belles referring to the Rammer Jamer as her “roadhouse”, so she proclaims that she wants to turn the bar/restaurant into a place for the country music scene. To kick off that goal, she says, Gloriana is having a secret show there on Saturday.

Lemon then gets to working the phones trying to contact anyone who can get her to Gloriana. But before she can secure the band, the “secret show” becomes public knowledge and posters find their way to the Dixie Stop, among other places in town. She manages to get a meeting with them – only because she promises them that her venue has 700 seats and air conditioning. AnnaBeth suggests bringing someone along who knows and understands music, shenanigan-hating Wade, and Lemon reluctantly agrees, although it means that she’ll have to tell him the truth about the concert.

When he finds out, he’s upset, of course, but talk soon turns to how his sour demeanor isn’t only due to Lemon lying. She quickly figures out that he slept with Zoe and grills him about the move that made her leave town and whether or not he’s still in love with her. He denies the last part, but he still can’t get his emotions together about Zoe, to the chagrin of Lemon. Not even listening to her practice the spiel she’s going to use on Gloriana’s manager can snap him out of it, so Lemon decides to indulge him, just this once. He expresses regret about going over there in the first place and ponders whether she was right, whether he’s not changed; Lemon reminds him of the fact that he now owns the bar rather than tending it, that he’s not been with any women since his fling with Zoe, and that he’s here, openly talking about his feelings. In her mind, Wade and Zoe made each other better.

Wade will get a chance to confirm that when he finds out that Zoe’s currently in Quinby, about twenty minutes away from where they are. They end up at a diner far away from Birmingham, meaning that there’s no chance of Lemon making the meeting with Gloriana. She calls their manager and gives him her last second plea for “one victory, one chance to turn it around” before she and Wade run into Jonah and Zoe. While Wade and Zoe go outside to talk, she and Jonah stay in, where he tells her that he’s intrigued by the “tiny doctor”. He doesn’t do love, though, so we don’t have to worry about that – yet.

Wade and Lemon return home to find the Rammer Jammer packed for Gloriana. Lemon immediately panics, thinking that it’s now her time to face the music, until Crickett points out that the band is there. Their manager told them that she’s one of the most persuasive people that he had ever met and they proceed to perform their new single “Can’t Shake You” before a very appreciative crowd. While the song is playing, Lemon sees Lavon and AnnaBeth dancing; when he comes over to congratulate her on getting the band to come, she congratulates him on what he has with AnnaBeth and informs him that it inspires her to find someone for herself.

Ragtag Oceans
It’s mating season for Burt Reynolds and as such, he doesn’t have all that much of an appetite, which worries Lavon. More worrying for Mayor Hayes, though, is the fact that his pet has gone missing; this isn’t just a beast on the prowl, though, which Lavon figures out when Mayor Gainey stops by with a giant cookie meant to bribe him into relenting over the mall. Lavon refuses and Mayor Gainey says “see ya later, alligator”, convincing him that the Fillmore leader has Burt Reynolds held hostage and won’t give him back until the mall is built. AnnaBeth, though, doesn’t think that there’s enough evidence to link Mayor Gainey to the disappearance, but that doesn’t stop Lavon from gathering an elite team of townspeople meant to get his beloved alligator back for good.

Among the members of the team are Tom, Wanda, Reverend Mayfair, Frank, Meatball, and Sgt. Jeffries, all of whom have ideas about how they’re to get the gator back. Lavon passes on the putting on a play, acting like a movie crew, and playing Santa before the Reverend brings up Ocean’s Eleven as inspiration for his idea. In his plan, Lavon will call Mayor Gainey and invite him and his wife out to lunch under the pretenses of discussing the mall. When Gainey arrives at Fancy’s, Tom will be acting as the valet, wherein he’ll find the key to the barn that Burt is likely being held at. Then, the team will rush to the Gainey property and spring the gator and reunite the Mayor with his pet.

The plan gets put into motion and the team makes it out to the Gainey property, where Wanda brought sandwiches and Sgt. Jeffries brought everything from night vision goggles to an umbrella. They make it into the barn where they find Burt, but Mr. Reynolds isn’t alone. No, he has a girlfriend and everyone panics, running out of the barn and locking the door behind them. Outside, they all start to worry about the possibility of jail time, with Sgt. Jeffries turning against Lavon and Frank offering advice that includes running in a zigzag pattern and throwing cats at the other gator. Fortunately, they get a big helping hand from AnnaBeth, who backs her truck into the barn, destroying one of the walls. She had ran into Tom at Fancy’s and he confessed to everything they were doing; instead of holding it against Lavon, she did her part to help and the team does get Burt loaded up on the truck and back home. His appetite, thankfully, has returned, as well.

Zeorge
George is at the Rammer Jammer trying to drink away his sorrows over Tansy and Zoe when Dash tries to talk to him about the possibility of “Zeorge” happening now that he’s single. He shrugs off the idea and is later visited by Lily Anne at his job; she’s having a legal matter regarding a politician using one of her songs without her permission and she doesn’t know what to do about it. The two end up back at the Rammer Jammer to talk about her options and George writes a stern letter warning the campaign of potential legal action if they don’t relent on their use of the material. After the letter is finished, George and Lily Anne talk about his relationship with Zoe and the damage she’s left in her wake, to which Lily Anne suggests writing a song about. It’ll help George get his feelings out and work through some of the anger and hurt inside and while at first he refuses, seeing her on the big screen at the Rammer Jammer drives him to drink (and write).

George ends up with a belly full of beer and four napkins worth of song lyrics. Lily Anne tries to get him to perform them in public, which he at first refuses and then complies with when she forces him through peer pressure. With lyrics about sailing a boat away from heartache and “if you’re a doctor, why do you cause so much pain?”, the song is obviously very personal and turns out to get a great response, something that Lily Anne noticed. She mentions that she’s going on the road this summer and that she needs another voice, offering him a spot on the bill. He accepts and the two are last seen heading out of town in his truck.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-I have to admit, I thought that there’d be a Road House joke since they used the term more than once. That seems like a movie right in Hart’s wheelhouse.
-As a whole, this episode was weirdly meta. I had a laugh at Dash’s reasoning as to why “Goe” wasn’t a proper ship name and the fact that an episode actually used the words “Zade” and “Zeorge”, but there was also George’s conversation with Zoe at the boat and Lemon’s enumerating of Wade’s changes, both of which I feel like I’ve read on Tumblr before.
-Judging by the team’s performance in the extraction mission, I think AnnaBeth might have been on to something in her assessment of the BlueBell folk as ragtag vs. elite.
-I loved the scene where Zoe’s conversation with the woman on the plane and Wade’s with Lemon were cross-cut.
-Another thing I loved: seeing Zoe get to be a doctor again. I don’t need Hart to be ER or anything, but her career has become such a minor part of the show that it’s nice to see it brought up again.
-Lavon’s code name in the mission is Big Papa. Reverend Mayfair’s? The Shepherd.
-Favorite line: “Yeah, your life in BlueBell is practically a telenovela”, which was followed by Zoe breaking out some Spanish. This show, you guys.
-Runner-up for favorite line: “Do you not exclamation points at the end of my sentences?”.
-That was an impressive music montage, no?
-Well, that’s it. Another season of Hart of Dixie is in the books. There were some bumps along the way, but I think it was a pretty significant improvement over season one, due to the better employment of the supporting cast, a deeper look at the characters, and Lemon’s (impressive) arc. Thank you guys for reading, commenting, and sharing all the articles I’ve written about it this season and don’t worry, the show’s back this fall and so am I. As a (small) token of my appreciation, here’s a Youtube playlist made up of the songs from every episode title this season. Recaps are linked.

1. Patsy Cline – I Fall to Pieces
2. Willie Nelson – Always on My Mind
3. Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy
4. Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds
5. Patsy Cline – Walkin’ After Midnight
6. Johnny Cash – Walk the Line
7. Mac Davis – Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me
8. Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart
9. Taylor Swift – Sparks Fly
10. Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas
11. Brad Paisley featuring Alabama – Old Alabama
12. Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream
13. Hank Williams – Lovesick Blues
14. John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads
15. Kenny Rogers – The Gambler
16. Townes Van Zandt – Where I Lead Me
17. Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
18. Jimmy Buffet – Why Don’t We Get Drunk
19. Faith Hill – This Kiss
20. Garth Brooks – If Tomorrow Never Comes
21. Rascal Flatts – I’m Movin’ On
22. Willie Nelson – On the Road Again