Hart of Dixie - Episode 3.12 - Should've Been a Cowboy - Review

On this week's Hart of Dixie, Zoe encountered numerous obstacles in her attempts to keep her new home in one piece and regain her status as Brick's partner at the practice.  Meanwhile, Lavon and Annabeth hit a major stumbling block, George and Tansy rekindled their flame, and Joel got schooled by Wade on how to be a badass.  And I continued to love the use of 90's country songs as episode titles.  Let's review and discuss!

Now that they have their house and are ready to begin blissful cohabitation, of course Joel and Zoe immediately find new trouble.  Their contractor informs them of some expensive upkeep that is needed, prompting the couple to reflect on their limited financial means.  I know Zoe's not a partner, by the way, but should she really be that poor?  Well, maybe she spent too much on designer clothes and accessories.  That I could believe!  Anyway, Joel decided he could do the repairs himself, but Zoe nixed the idea due to his lack of experience and general geeky cluelessness in such matters.

Joel managed to let this send him into a self-questioning downward spiral that had to have been in part inspired by his subconscious understanding of some of the bigger problems threatening his romance with Zoe.  After all, he's written six chapters of his new novel all centering on a protagonist who clearly mixes his own personal attributes with those of...Wade!

Joel further emphasized his insecurities by determining that the best way to improve his novel and learn how to be more of a tough, fixer-upper, cowboy type dude is to follow Wade around all day and learn from the hottie bartender just how it's done.  This brought some hilarious moments, but surely Joel wouldn't be quite so unsure of himself in the first place if he wasn't in the middle of an uncomfortable relationship in a new town where he may not feel he really belongs.  I have to say it was funny beyond words when Joel moaned, after trying to work a screwdriver, "did you see that?  I almost gave myself a stigmata!"  And Wade's response to the idea of Joel shadowing him was perfect: "Prepare yourself, my friend.  There's an 80% chance you'll be dead by sundown."

Zoe determined that in order to prevent Joel from working on the house, she could get the money for professional help by convincing Brick to promote her.  The two doctors came up with a deal wherein Zoe could be a partner again if she succeeded in her attempts to help the town lose weight during Health and Wellness Week.  Little did Dr. Hart suspect that Brick had again connived against her, since he knew that the Belle's Cake Fest had been rescheduled for the following day.  The Bluebellians' attempts to shape up brought some pricelessly funny bits, such as Meatloaf's explanation that "a rock hard core would sully my brand."

Joel discovered that Wade gets freebies aplenty all day long due to the interesting fact that pretty much all employees everywhere he goes are attractive females who adore him.  After Wade broke up a bar fight, Joel decided to take over as barkeep for a while, and with some excellent advice from Wade ("anyone orders anything you don't know, just give 'em beer"), he enjoyed himself for some time in that role.  Sadly, those rowdy drunks returned and set up a "duel" for the next day with Joel.

Annabeth was drafted to be a bridesmaid for Elodie, a Belle who snobbishly dissed AB's non-engaged status constantly to hurtful effect.  Instead of telling Elodie off or merrily ignoring these comments, AB channelled her wounded feelings into helping to plan a bachelorette party for her frenemy.  As usual, the more Annabeth tried to repurpose her stress into a productive and positive outcome, the more high-strung and upset she became.  

Elodie's bachelorette party seemed to please the Belles with its hilariously bad local male strippers and copious drinks (plus, AB did a lovely job on the food and decor as always, which was more than Elodie deserved).  It also led to this fabulous exchange between Zoe and Annabeth as they watched the strippers:

AB: "How much alcohol do you need to consume to erase horrifying memories?"
Zoe: "Some scars never heal."

Later, AB confessed her angst over Lavon to Zoe.  As she explained, Lavon essentially had "all the power" in their relationship since she agreed to his plan of taking it slow.  All AB felt she could do was sit around and wait for Lavon to feel as longterm about their love as she did, and that left her incredibly frustrated.

 Crickett came stumbling out of the shadows to drunkenly slur her reasons for changing the date of the Cake Fest.  As it turned out, Crickett had squandered all of the Belle's funds on buying the ladies' love with expensive presents, and needed the Cake Fest returns to keep the group afloat.  This development only re-stressed how desperately Bluebell - and the show - need Lemon back, stat.  If Ms. Breeland had been around, surely she would have detected Crickett's plight much sooner than this and forced some help on the Belles.

When Lavon showed up with some greasy breakfast to ease AB's next-day hangover, I admit I was hoping against hope he had an engagement ring stuck in a muffin or something.  In fact, this scene turned out worse for the couple than I feared.  After Annabeth asked Lavon to confirm that he saw her as the love of his life, he couldn't, though he did affirm that he loves her very much.  Sadly, that was not enough to soothe AB's worries about their future, and they broke up.

I don't really get what's freezing Lavon up so much.  Is he just terrified of a really good thing, or is he secretly holding onto feelings for one of his exes, like Lemon or Ruby?  It was sad to see him hurt AB so deeply for no discernible reason.

Wade tried to protect Joel from having to fight "Little Zach," but Joel felt a burst of new confidence after a nice, encouraging talk with Zoe, and decided to take his rival on.  The results, where it seemed that Wade ought to have given more in-depth fighting lessons, were very amusing, especially with Joel, hoisted over Little Zach's shoulders, screeching, "he's so angry!"

George and Lavon had their own little subplot of coming back to being friends again post-Lynly, which was okay but not terribly compelling, probably because it was the residual plot remains of...Lynly.  Worse still, it occurred in the George portion of the hour, which, let's face it, has been a bit of a mess lately.  Compounding the issue, George decided to wait exactly two seconds before reuniting with Tansy, who I frankly find to be whiny and manipulative on her best days and dull on her worst.  I'm continuing to hold out hope that Hart of Dixie will find something much more interesting to do with George ASAP.

Overall, I thought this episode had a few strong moments, mainly arising out of the funny tug-of-war between Zoe and Brick, and the strong emotions of the Lavon/AB scenes.  While the break-up between Annabeth and Lavon was heartbreaking, at least it was a really big dramatic moment that will change those characters' course for the rest of the season.  We can't say as much for most of what has comprised Season 3 so far.  There also wasn't enough interaction between Zoe and Wade in this episode by a long-shot.  As I've been saying for a while now, H.O.D. really needs to raise the stakes, shake things up in Bluebell with some more major romantic developments, and try to get the rest of the characters out of the holding patterns they have been stuck in all season.  A return to Zade and the return of Lemon would be just the medicine the show truly needs.

What did you think of this week's episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing Hart of Dixie, The Mentalist, Beauty and the Beast, Bones, Witches of East End, Covert Affairs, and Devious Maids for Spoiler TV. She is a college English instructor and also enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog