'Hart of Dixie' Recap: 'Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me'

One of the TV things I am most thankful for this year is how good Season 2 of “Hart of Dixie” has been. With one terrible exception that felt like a leftover episode from the worst parts of Season 1, the sophomore season has been basically flawless. The show has full-on embraced the comedy that it should have had all along and we’ve gotten to see more of the supporting cast and at least for the time being, all the messy elements of the love triangle have been put on hold. The show for me has become one of the brightest spots on my weekly TV schedule.

This week’s episode, “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me,” brought the return of Rose and the introduction of her best friend Tonya, who was played by Olympic Gold Medalist McKayla Maroney. In general, I’m not a huge fan of cameos, but this one was handled perfectly. Tonya was there to give her BFF support when it looked like Zoe was stealing the object of her affection. But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s start at the beginning.

Zoe woke up to Wade watching cartoons and eating cookies in her bed (how adorable is Wade?) and she was not happy that he was eating her last cookies from New York. Wade offered to make it up to her in the few minutes he had before he needed to leave for work, but Zoe wasn’t interested in a quickie. She told Wade that while she didn’t need romance, she also wasn’t a car that he could just stick his key into to start up (ha!). Wade seemed to take it under consideration as Zoe headed up to the main house for breakfast where Lavon and Ruby were staging their own romantic morning.

Have I mentioned that Ruby is the worst and I have no use for her? (I have? Repeatedly? Oh…). Anyway, they were all snuggly and romantic and Zoe was not really having that. Ruby tried to mend fences, but Zoe blew her off (points to Zoe). Later, Ruby and Lavon were walking around town and ran into Lemon, who also wasn’t happy to see the two of them together (more on Lemon later). But Ruby’s grandfather took the cake when it came to his displeasure and he proceeded to turn his hose on them as he yelled at Lavon, “Get off my lawn, predator!” (I’m honestly not sure which part was funnier: Him actually telling Lavon to get off his lawn or him using the term ‘predator.’ It’s probably a tossup). Lavon was determined to win the grandpa over because he really likes Ruby (gags).

Lavon invited him over to dinner and then when Grandpa Ruby insulted his mom’s biscuit recipe, it was on! Lavon started shouting for him to use any door to exit and then he yelled for Burt Reynolds (It’s the next day and I’m still laughing to myself as I type this. Also, I wanted the alligator to get Ruby instead). But once again, Lavon proved how awesome he is by going over to Grandpa Ruby’s and offering to do whatever it took to get on his good side. Grandpa offered up some chores and Lavon took care of them, something that made Ruby happy by the end of the episode, but I’m not here for her joy.

Let’s go back to Lemon for a moment. She was super excited to tell Annabeth that she wanted to start a catering business, something the two friends had talked about since they were younger. But Annabeth wasn’t interested and told Lemon that it was a bad economy and catering businesses were hurting the most. Lemon was disappointed, but then she ran into George and he mentioned he had to throw a party for some old guy (sorry, I’m not feeling well so I may have missed some details, like Grandpa’s name and who the guy was George had to throw a party for) and then he mentioned he’d hired Annabeth because she just started a catering business. As you can imagine, Lemon did not take that well. Annabeth explained that she just wanted to do something on her own now that she was divorced and she didn’t want Lemon taking over.

But of course this is Bluebell and things never go the way people expect. George has to add a bunch of extra guests and Annabeth can’t handle the spillover so he asks Lemon to help. She tries to do so in secret, but Annabeth is on to Cricket when she’s sounding a little too knowledgeable. Lemon comes out of hiding and the two argue, but George convinces them to work together. The ceasefire doesn’t last long and as both women fight in George’s office, he suggests they go into business together because they complement one another. After some more bickering, the ladies end up agreeing and ask George to draw up the agreement. Lemon suggests they call it ‘Annabeth’s’ and Annabeth is touched and agrees. Lemon quickly points out that she agreed a little too fast (Ha! Never change, Lemon).

As for Zoe, she hired Rose to answer phones at the medical practice. Brick returned from North Carolina in a good mood and warned Zoe not to ruin it by talking to him (Ha! I love the Breeland family). Rose tells Zoe about Max, the football player that she has a crush on, right before the school calls and wants Brick to check out the team because they’ve all come down with athlete’s foot (gross). He’s busy, but doesn’t want Zoe going over there in her “shorty-shorts” and getting them all riled up, but Zoe insists she’s going to go anyway. She takes care of things and then tries to put in a good word with Max, who is upset because his last girlfriend moved away and it’s affecting his ability to kick the ball. Zoe is confident that she got through to him and tells Rose as much.

However, Max developed a crush on Zoe and in a moment that had me blushing from the secondhand embarrassment, the town, the football team and the cheerleaders had a flash mob in the middle of the Rammer Jammer and Max sang, “Doctor, Doctor” to Zoe. It was brilliant and hilarious and awkward, all rolled into one. Rose obviously didn’t think so and she really didn’t appreciate having to sign for all of Zoe’s flowers from Max the next day, saying, “How much allowance does that kid get?” But Brick, Wade, George and the rest of the town basically told Zoe that she had to string him along, at least until the big game because they wanted to win.

Zoe and Max had an awkward “date” at the Rammer Jammer and Zoe tried to apologize again to Rose, but Tonya stepped up and got in her face, allowing Maroney to flash her famous “not impressed” look as she called Zoe a cougar. It got to be too much for the good doctor and she let Max down gently and then gave him a pep talk before the game, which was really cute. Afterward, Max invited Rose to a party the team was having.

Wade attempted to romance Zoe by giving her a pair of panties and she was not amused. She pointed out that a teenager was better at romance than he was. So Wade turned to Wanda for advice and she explained that it wasn’t really about the gift, but that it had to come from the heart. So when Zoe came home from the football game, Wade had made cookies for her. He was covered in flour and told her that she should see Lavon’s kitchen and the cookies probably weren’t good, but Zoe was touched that he’d put forth the effort. The two had a moment where they once again obviously realize they’re totally in a relationship, but neither wants to admit it or acknowledge it so after an awkward pause; they decided to get naked (Works for me).

Next week, Lemon and Zoe are teaming up to get rid of Ruby (yes!) and Wade and George are going on a camping trip with a Cub Scout troop. I don’t know about you, but I’m already laughing. See you next week…