Hart of Dixie Recap: "Disaster Drills & Departures"

The ‘Hart of Dixie’ writers must be trying to prepare the audience for the worst in case The CW decides not to give the show a second season at next week’s upfront presentation. That’s the only reason I can come up with for why “Disaster Drills and Departures” was such a mess of an episode.

It picked up where last week’s episode left off with Zoe rushing to the hospital to check on Rose. Rose’s mother still wanted nothing to do with her so Zoe left feeling sorry for herself since she had managed to alienate pretty much the entire town in one swoop. She stood outside the hospital scrolling through her phone and then called her dad to leave him a rambling message. Proving that he is capable of growth, Ethan Hart immediately returned to Bluebell to see what his daughter needed.

Zoe, unfortunately, decided that what she needed was to go back to being a detached surgeon who did not care about her patients, aside from diagnosing them and giving them treatment. She refused to go see Rose and when Annabeth came in with symptoms that didn’t make sense, Zoe ignored her urge to get involved and ask what was really wrong. Brick was not amused by her poor bedside manner, but Zoe was done caring. Ethan managed to get Zoe a fellowship in Boston by agreeing to work at the hospital himself, which was a pretty great thing for him to do since he’d never really been there for Zoe before. Zoe decided she was going to take it and leave town without telling anyone, proving that she has not grown at all and has actually started to regress.

But Lavon caught her packing her stuff and when Zoe admitted she was leaving town because everyone hated her, Lavon pointed out that they’d had an argument, but he hadn’t broken up with her. (Can we get a Lavon and Wade spinoff, please? I’d also like Lemon to be there). Lavon told Zoe that if she left without saying goodbye, it was like she was saying that nothing she’d done had mattered and the people who she’d met didn’t matter. Zoe promised him that she would say goodbye before she left.

Of course Zoe went back on her word and left town without saying goodbye to anyone, including Rose, who was calling Zoe from her hospital bed, but Zoe just ignored that call. (Seriously, writers, how are we supposed to root for her?) As she sat beside Ethan at the airport, Zoe referred to caring about people as an infection and Ethan gave her a speech about how being a surgeon is just about fixing the part that’s wrong. Then he went off on another tangent about keeping up appearances and how he’d pretended to still be with her mother for years after they’d separated. Somewhere in the middle of their talk, Zoe had an epiphany and realized what Annabeth was actually going through.

It turned out that Annabeth’s husband had left her months ago and she’d just been pretending that he was around because she didn’t want to tell anyone that he’d left her. (I don’t know about anyone else, but I had more sympathy for Annabeth than I’ve had for Zoe in the past few episodes). Zoe convinced Annabeth that she needed to tell everyone what happened so they could be there for her because that was what small towns do. Brick overheard the whole thing (so much for doctor/patient confidentiality) and he told Zoe that she was starting to act more like a doctor and less like a surgeon. She told him again that this wasn’t what she wanted and went back to the airport only to change her mind once more and tell her father that she wanted to stay in Bluebell.

Meanwhile, the town was putting on a disaster drill so they could be prepared in case there was a storm. Tom was in charge along with Wanda. Lavon surprised Wade by taking him to a building that was for sale and suggested it would make a great location for his bar. Lavon had made an appointment for the two of them to meet with a loan officer the next day. Wade was excited until he shared the news with Shelly and she totally rained on his parade. (Who knew Shelly was so mean)? This prompted one of the few bright spots of the episode where Wade approached the loan officer at the Rammer Jammer to introduce himself. He got nervous and managed to flirt with her and threaten her all at once. It was hilarious, but it was also really bad for Wade because she called off the meeting. Lavon was not happy and accused Wade of not having matured after all. It was a sad moment in their bromance.

The other bright spot of the episode was George and Lemon. (That’s right, I said George). Even though the two were back together, they hadn’t had sex since George found out about the affair and things were awkward between them. They agreed to wait until their wedding night, but Lemon decided to surprise George at a hotel. The two came to the conclusion that they just needed to get it over with, but they still didn’t know how so they decided to get drunk. Lemon was reaching for more champagne and she got her head caught in the bars of the footboard of the bed. George was doing what he could to get her out, but nothing was working. When he heard the sirens indicating it was time for the disaster drill, he started to leave and Lemon told him that he couldn’t leave a real emergency for a fake one. George got the whipped cream from her bag to put on her head just as someone walked in to start the drill. It was hilariously awkward for everyone.

After she was freed, George and Lemon were helping with the drill and they started reminiscing about high school and their first time. As they talked, they were both getting lost in the memories and Lemon reminded him that no one could take those away from them. It was a really sweet scene. I know I’ve hated George all season and he’s still never going to be my favorite character, but these last two episodes have really made me feel like George and Lemon love each other and deserve a shot at happiness. It helps that no one is shouting from the rooftops about how George is the greatest guy to ever exist.

The next morning, Wade showed up for breakfast at Lavon’s and things were still a little rocky between them. Wade was waiting for Zoe to arrive so she could mock him for failing and Lavon gently told Wade that Zoe wasn’t coming back. He was hurt and then tried to cover it by saying it was a good thing because Zoe had been the reason he’d wanted to make something of himself and it was probably best that she was gone. Then Zoe breezed into the kitchen and told them that she was going to stay. Wade was shocked, appalled, happy, confused and uncertain all wrapped into one brilliant sequence of facial expressions. (Wilson Bethel continues to be flawless).

Zoe finally went to see Rose in the hospital. Rose was on the road to recovery after her operation and she’d turned Magnolia into her personal servant since she’d overheard the other teen confessing to a priest that she’d wished harm on Rose and felt guilty about it. Rose told Zoe that Frederick kissed her and Zoe became Zoe again and excitedly asked Rose for every detail.

Next week is the season (possibly series) finale and as the town is preparing for George and Lemon’s big day, a major storm is rolling in. It looks like it’s going to be a good episode for the Zoe and Wade fans, but we all know previews can be deceiving. What do you think? Will Zoe finally wake up and see that Wade is the best? Will Lemon and George make it down the aisle? Will the show get a second season? Do you want it to? Sound off below.