Things are finally starting to happen in BlueBell as some of the storylines are picking up. Zoe blamed Wade for well everything. Lynly pushed George to define their relationship. Lavon kept himself busy coaching the BlueBell track team while AB made a lot of jam. Lemon discovered a secret that shocked Brick. Did anyone care that Joel got kidnapped?
Did they have to rescue him? Zoe becomes irritated when she finds out that Joel has been blowing off writing and missed his deadline. Zoe is quick to place the blame at Wade’s feet because he and Joel have been spending a lot of time together despite her misgivings. It turns out that Joel is still suffering from writer’s block and feels that the success of his first book was just a fluke. After Tom warns Zoe that Joel’s fans will blame her if Joel can’t write any more, Zoe sets out to help Joel get over his writer’s block by turning the Rammer Jammer into the NY café where Joel wrote his first book. When Zoe’s attempt to help fails, Joel takes Wade up on his offer of going to his place to blow off steam. The next morning Zoe bangs on Wade’s door wondering where Joel is since he never came home the night before. And at this point Brick needs to check her for a pulse because she walked right past a shirtless Wade and failed to have any response. Earlier Wade refused to serve the Truitt Brothers because they owned him money. So they kidnapped Joel until he agreed to let them off the hook. On the way to rescue Joel, Zoe tells Wade that he is trying to sabotage Joel so that she’ll come back to him once Joel is out of the picture. Wade laughs as he tells her that he doesn’t need to send Joel away for her to come back to him. The Truitts release Joel after they come to an agreement to work off their debt to Wade by collecting other people’s debt. Joel’s grand adventure broke his writer’s block. Heeding Wade’s advice, Zoe admits to Joel that she needs to let him do things his way instead of being too pushy.
We finally got an episode with a lot of Wade and Zoe interaction although it centered on Joel. It seems like Zoe is very firmly stuck on her idea of Wade and is very quick to blame him for everything. In this episode, Zoe was even more of the overbearing mother-figure to Joel. At times I have to wonder if she even really likes Joel, or if she is just so stuck on having Not!Wade. She needs Joel to be a certain way, and she freaks out if he strays outside of her box. Wade was right that she treats Joel much the same way she treated Wade when they were together. Yes Joel is a nice guy, but at the moment he keeps making excuses for Zoe’s behavior. I have to wonder how much longer they can continue in this vein before we start to see some serious cracks in their relationship.
Does it really need a label? Things are still hot and heavy between George and Lynly after the last episode. George feels weird about not letting Lavon know about whatever is between Lynly and him. Lynly questions exactly what it is that is between them. If it is a relationship then she is all for sharing the news with her cousin. She points out that if it is just sex then Lavon won’t take the news too well. George isn’t in any hurry to put a label on their relationship so he agrees to keep things from Lavon. Later on Lynly cracks and confesses everything to Lavon who is none too happy about George using his cousin as his bandaid. Lavon gives George an ultimatum that if he continued to see Lynly that he’d be out of the race. George chose Lynly over the race, and admitted to Lynly that they must be in a relationship after all.. Later on when it looked like BlueBell would lose the race, George went to Lavon and told him to suck it up because he and Lynly weren’t going away and to let him be in the race so they had a good chance to win. George won the race for BlueBell. Later George and Lynly went public by holding hands and kissing at the Rammer Jammer.
I’m still not sure about George and Lynly. She is definitely a pushy one. If she tones things down, I think that she is good for a transitional relationship for George. She can help him loosen up and have a little bit of fun which he desperately needs. I don’t see it as a lasting relationship in any way. I’m looking forward to seeing how this relationship affects the friendship between George and Lavon in the coming weeks.
Hoarders: Jam Edition. Lavon has been feeling pressured since AnnaBeth revealed that eventually she would like their relationship to go to the next level. He avoids her by keeping busy coaching the BlueBellians for the upcoming Mobile Bay Cross Country Relay Race which Fillmore has won for the past 4 years. AnnaBeth has been using all of her free time making lots of jam. Things eventually come to a head after Crickett ate too much of AB’s jam and Lavon blew up and blamed AB. Lavon is upset that AnnaBeth rocked the boat when things were going so well for them. AnnaBeth reminds him that there is an expiration date to things and she can’t be expected to wait around forever. After BlueBell wins the race and AB shows up to show her support, Lavon reveals to AB that he is afraid of rushing things and messing them up due to his history with Ruby and Lemon. He offers her a cabinet for her jam at his place, and they agree to go forward slowly.
I understand why Lavon wants to take things slowly with AnnaBeth due to being burnt in the past. And yet I still think this was just a temporary bandaid for the moment. Lavon seems to be unsure of what the future with AB holds. They’ve been together too long for him to not have more of a feeling of whether he sees a future with her or not. AB is satisfied for now, but I’m sure the issue will come up again later in the season. At that time Lavon will definitely have to make up his mind about what he wants.
There might be something that he needs know. Lemon encourages Brick to start dating again since it has been over 6 months since he and Shelby broke up again. At first Brick is apprehensive until he sees the woman that Lemon has in mind for him to ask out. Meanwhile Lemon is very curious to discover who the new owner of Fancie’s is. When Lemon learns who the new owner of Fancie’s is, she rushes to tell Brick that he needs to see something before he can go out on his date. Brick sees that Shelby is back and has bought Fancie’s while he and Lemon peek through the windo. And that isn’t the only surprise—Shelby looks to be about 7 months pregnant which is when Brick broke up with her.
This was quite the twist and shocker for me. I figured that Shelby would be the owner of Fancie’s. I actually like that because it sets up a conflict for Lemon for when Jaime King returns from her maternity leave later in the season. It also gives Shelby a reason for being around. I enjoyed Shelby and Brick last season and we never really learned why Brick broke up with her. I don’t believe that Brick is the father of the baby although it will be interesting to see where they take this storyline.
Final thoughts. I really enjoyed this episode and it may be my favorite of the season. We finally got to see the core cast interacting with one another instead of just off with the guest starts. There was some progression in some of the storylines as well. And they finally delivered on a surprise. I felt for the first time this season that things are finally beginning to happen.
What did you think of the Shelby pregnancy twist? Do you think Brick is the father? Do you wish that Zoe would have let the Truitts just keep Joel? Is Lavon taking things too slow with AB?
Tune in tomorrow for the Thanksgivukkah episode which is also the mid-season finale. There will be a much anticipated Wade and Zoe lip lock that has been a long time coming. Danielle Bradbery, season 4 winner of The Voice, will be performing her single “Heart of Dixie”.
Tracie
Tracie is a wife and stay-at-home mom of 2 residing in NJ. She likes to unwind with a good book or in front of the TV.. She is an avid reader of romance books. She likes to cook and bake. She loves to exercise and is trying to live a healthier life style. She watches a wide variety of TV shows ranging from reality TV to scripted dramas. Some of her past and current favorite TV shows are Sex and the City, Charmed, The Good Wife, and Hart of Dixie.
