Hart of Dixie - Episode 3.06 - Family Tradition - Review

It was an emotional rollercoaster for several characters on Hart of Dixie this week!  From Zoe's struggle to make contact with the Wilkes family, to Lemon's business - and friendship - decisions, to Annabeth and Lavon's relationship crossroads, this was an eventful episode.

Zoe lacks warm family relationships in her life, and longs for those connections as much as she fears rejection.  Hence, when circumstances raise her interest in getting to know the Wilkes, it takes some soul-searching and repeat viewings of Dolphin Tale to inspire her to make a move.

Of course, since this is Zoe, she has to lie about who she is and crash an eight year old's birthday party, causing Joel to masquerade as a magician.  But while these types of shenanigans on her part are always hilarious, this one had a twist of angst in it since Zoe felt so vulnerable about integrating herself into the family gathering.  

Everything went wonderfully until Zoe got up the nerve to reveal her identity.  Then she was swiftly dissed and dismissed by her cousin in an unnecessarily catty manner.  The Wilkes seemed so terrific up until that point...I fully expect they will thaw to Zoe just as Bluebell at large has, but despite Zoe's silly charade, I don't think the mean response that she was "just the entertainment" was at all warranted.

How adorable and unceasingly supportive is Joel?  As much as I enthusiastically root for Zoe to get back together with Wade, I must acknowledge that Joel is sweet, cute, and a wonderful boyfriend.   

Lemon had a chance to buy Fancy's, and even though it didn't work out, it showed her that she does have ambitions beyond the Rammer Jammer.  The portrayal of Lemon and Wade's friendship in this episode was excellent.  I love that this relationship which has no romantic or sexual suggestions about it is a completely deep and relevant ongoing part of the show.

Annabeth finally told Lavon of her feelings after she incorrectly assumed that he planned to propose a couple of weeks ago.  While her parents were amusingly obnoxious, I really felt for poor AB as they kept harping on the very topic that their daughter has been grappling with and trying to repress for some time.  Hart of Dixie has done a fantastic job of developing Annabeth's character more and more this season, and making the AB/Lavon romance one to root for.  I hope that these two can get beyond the awkwardness of being slightly out-of-sync in their plans for the near future...given how sensitive and honest they both are, I suspect that it will all work out for them.

George and Lynly are getting together again, in a much more earnest context this time.  Lynly has become progressively less obnoxious and more likable over the last few episodes, and her spot-on predictions of George's behavior in pursuing her in spite of himself were cute and funny.  Now there's little doubt that Lavon will soon learn of the George/Lynly affair, which will surely bring comic hijinks!

What did you think of this week's episode?  Do you want Zoe to become close to the Wilkes, or not?  Any theories as to who bought Fancy's?  Share your ideas in the comments!