Monday, 22 October 2012

Hart of Dixie 2x03: Recap and Review

 


2x03 If It Makes You Happy



I have been following this programme since its debut last year. My main attraction was the casting of Rachel Bilson, as I am a big OC fan. Once you get past the irritating accents you find a Gilmore Girls-esque small town drama of a fish out of water, city girl, Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson) which is not only charming, but draws the viewer into small town life and make you really care for the characters.

A little rundown of the main characters,

Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson) – A doctor, inherited her biological father’s General Practice, originally from New York and she struggles to fit in to the Bluebell way of life.

Lavon Hayes (Cress Williams) – Ex-linebacker, Mayor and BFF to Zoe

Wade Kinsella (Wilson Bethel) – Zoe’s next door neighbour and love interest. Spent all last season pining for Zoe, before they got together in the finale. They have a love/hate relationship.

George Tucker (Scott Porter) – The other love interest for Zoe. She spent the first season pining for him, but when he finally left his fiancé Lemon for her it was too late! She told him to date other people as she does not want to be his rebound.

Lemon Breeland (Jaime King) – Ex-fiancé of George. Had affair with Lavon, causing the end of her relationship with George.

A busy first season, we join at episode 3 of the second one. Zoe and Wade have decided to stop sleeping together. Lavon is facing competition for his re-election in the form of his ex girlfriend, Ruby, a new character for this season. George is busy doing what Zoe told him to do and is dating again. Lemon, not willing to be outdone decides she needs a night out to find a new man.

Every episode seems to focus around a problem for Zoe, usually caused by her being an outsider. For this particular episode, a journalist from her school alumni magazine is coming to interview her and write an article about how she has changed healthcare in Bluebell. The problem being, she exaggerated to him about how valued she is within the community.

The journalist seems uninterested in town life, until Tom comes into the practice with a rash. Zoe identifies that one possibility could be leprosy, spying a good story for the article. Tom has recently been in contact with crazy Earl (Wade’s Dad) so Zoe enlists Wade’s help to investigate. A nice scene occurs at Earl’s where he refers to Zoe as Wade’s girlfriend, putting Wade on the defensive. Whilst Zoe seems pleased he talks about her with his dad. It turns out Earl has come into contact with an Armadillo, a known character of leprosy. So they set off to catch the armadillo named Randy.

George is enjoying his dinner date when Brick (Lemon’s dad) walks in and introduces himself as George’s ex-Father-in-Law-to-be, thus ruining the date. What follows is a much needed scene between the two characters as they have not addressed their relationship since the failed wedding. Lavon plays mediator between the pair and has an epiphany about why he likes being mayor.

Lemon has success at the bar after competing with Ruby for the same man. She hooks up with the guy but she realises she is not ready and it is not about beating George. She also decides that it is time to move out and Anabeth offers her the houseboat. She also needs a job and insists on being Lavon’s campaign manager. I predict fireworks with this storyline considering their history.

Meanwhile, Tom’s results are back and no signs of leprosy, so the article is a bust. Zoe is disappointed, but given a pep talk about happiness by Wade, who is very philosophical this evening. It obviously rubs off on her as she tells Tom, ‘It’s your life, you have to be honest with yourself about how you want to live it’

This leads to a good scene between her and Wade, we see Zoe relax and give into Wade’s charm. At first Wade seems annoyed that she has crashed his video game night. But id pleased when he finds out that she is there because she listened to him and took his advice.

Good things about the Episode: Lots of Wade/Zoe scenes, there is development and progression in their relationship, it is not just about lust anymore. Lemon is also changing as a character, showing the change from a traditional domestic role, being defined only by having a husband to a modern, independent woman, living on her own and with a career.

Bad Things: I am not sure about the new character, Ruby, she pops up everywhere but I guess her role will be to stir up trouble.

 

 

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