Hart of Dixie Recap: "Mistress and Misunderstandings"

This week’s episode, “Mistress and Misunderstandings” opened with a rare sight: a smiling, happy Zoe practically bursting with sunshine as she strolled through Bluebell, greeting the townspeople and leaving whispers in her wake.

What was making her so happy? Drugs was one theory tossed around and sex was another; something Wade was not too pleased about (more on that later), but the real reason behind Zoe’s good mood? She finally had a female friend in Bluebell.

After Zoe left a note under a stack of newspapers asking someone to meet her at the carriage house and sent a nosy Wade and Lavon away when they tried to snoop around her place, it was revealed that Zoe was having a good old fashioned girls’ night with none other than Annabeth, one of the Belles who she’d played servant to in last week’s episode. The two women bonded over chick flicks, nail polish and wine, chatting about how much fun they had together. The only problem was Annabeth was still terrified of Lemon and since Lemon hates Zoe, Annabeth didn’t want to risk Lemon finding out the two of them were friends and that was why they were sneaking around.

Of course this became an issue for Zoe pretty fast once she had a chat with one of her patients who was having an affair and trying to get antibiotics for his mistress so she didn’t have to risk coming to the doctor with the same infection he had. Zoe started to realize that she was the mistress in her situation with Annabeth and got confirmation when she called the other woman when she happened to be with Lemon and Annabeth referred to her as Carl which led to Zoe hilariously proclaiming, “I’m a mistress named Carl!”

In the meantime, Lemon had her own problems that she needed help with, not only from Annabeth, but from George. Lemon was trying to score points with an older woman, Delia Ann, so she could replace her as the town’s Memory Matron. I’m not exactly sure what a Memory Matron is, so I’m just going to chalk it up to some quaint, small town hierarchy thing that Lemon obviously wanted very badly; so badly that she begged George to play nice with Delia Ann’s husband, someone George was not a fan of and had just lost a court case to.

But things were not looking too well for Lemon after a competitive George not only beat the other couple at Pictionary, but followed up with a victory dance as he mocked the losers. I’ve said before that I find George to be pointless, but he shines in comedic moments like this, or when he’s in scenes with Wade and he’s allowed to have a personality. Unfortunately, self-righteous seems to be one of George’s go-to personality traits and that is not doing his character any favors.

After Lemon discovered that Delia Ann was the one having an affair and planned to hold it over her head, George read Lemon the riot act and threatened to leave her if she did anything underhanded to Delia Ann. It was beyond extreme, especially since Lemon being a schemer is not brand new information and George should know that since he is the one who proposed to her in the first place. If the writers want us to root for George in any capacity, aside from Scott Porter’s past popularity, they need to give us a reason to, something I have yet to see.

Wade, on the other hand, continues to be the best part of the show, not only because Wilson Bethel shines but because the character has so many layers, something I don’t think anyone expected from the way he was introduced in the pilot. Once Lavon and Wade incorrectly deduced that Zoe was obviously seeing a new man, Wade went into jealous mode and promptly found a woman to flaunt in Zoe’s face. When that didn’t work, he started to mope and Lavon finally told him that he needed to man up, brush his hair and stop pulling Zoe’s pigtails and tell her how he feels. Between that and him telling Wade that Zoe was not seeing Justin Timberlake, Lavon Hayes for all the awards!

Tired of being a mistress, Zoe told Annabeth that she needed to make a choice: her or Lemon. But it wasn’t that simple for Annabeth. After she stood up to Lemon, she caught Delia Ann’s eye and suddenly Annabeth was the front runner for Memory Matron which meant that she could not be seen with Zoe since the whole town hates her. Zoe was hurt, but she still covered for Annabeth after Lemon tried to expose their friendship.

Unfortunately, Zoe covering for Annabeth led to her sharing a long, public kiss with Judson which Wade and everyone else witnessed. Poor Wade looked crushed as were all the Zoe and Wade shippers waiting impatiently for Zoe to notice just how amazing Wade truly is. Judging by the previews for next week, Judson seems to be a catalyst for Wade stepping up his game to get Zoe’s attention…by pulling harder on her pigtails.

This episode had some great lines and some excellent Wade and Lavon bromance moments, but overall, it was a bit of a disappointment after last week’s. I’m not sure how long this show can get away with the same ‘the town hates Zoe even though she’s trying so hard’ gimmick and the line of suitors for Zoe is bordering on ridiculous. But I will keep tuning in each week, even if it’s just to see Wade.