‘Hart of Dixie’ Midseason Finale Review: No ‘Miracles’ for Zoe and Wade

I love Hart of Dixie. Bluebell is such a cute town, populated by fun, quirky characters and spending an hour with them each week is one of my favorite things to do. But at the same time, this show, and these characters, can be so frustrating that I want to reach into my TV and slap some sense into them. It’s been almost 12 hours since I watched the episode and I still can’t decide how I feel about the events of the midseason finale. So let’s talk about “Miracles” and see what happens.

Who’s the Daddy?

After Shelby’s unexpected return, Lemon set out to do damage control. She recruited George (since Shelby is his fault) and Lynly (because she happened to be there) to help her find out what Shelby was up to and whether or not Brick was the father of her baby. Lemon didn’t trust her father around his ex, which turned out to be smart because one brief conversation led to Brick having Shelby-shaped stars in his eyes as he contemplated marriage, houses and lots of gifs.

But it turned out that Shelby had decided to have a baby by herself and was artificially inseminated. Brick was disappointed, but nowhere near as unhappy as Grandma Beattie. Lemon had called her to nip the situation in the bud and she wanted the opposite. She wanted Brick to marry Shelby because Lemon and Magnolia were huge disappointments as grandchildren and she wanted another shot with the new baby. She was so furious that she ended up falling and breaking her hip.

Breeland family time is always hilarious and sweet and this story was no exception. But the absolute best part was Lemon and Brick talking about how they broke her so one of them had to go live with her until she was better. They flipped a coin, Lemon lost and Brick told her that he was going to miss her. Kudos to the writers for coming up with a great way to write Lemon out for a few episodes (Jaime King is on maternity leave and will return in episode 14).

Lynly Meets George’s Exes

Remember last season’s plotline where George basically dated every single woman in town to get over Lemon and Zoe? That was a fun story and it was one that came back to bite him since they live in a small town and every time Lynly turned around, she was bumping into another one of the women that George dated. But here’s the thing: she wasn’t jealous. Lynly told Lavon that she knew George cared about her because he never looked twice at any of the other women and for the first time, Lavon finally seemed more accepting of these two.

But there was one special ex that Lynly missed out on meeting. Tansy was back and Wade had given her a job at the Rammer Jammer since being a process server was terrible and dangerous (but seriously funny). George was alone when he ran into Tansy so Lynly missed all the sparks that flew just from having those two standing on opposite ends of a bar. This relationship is so not over and now that Tansy is going to be around for a few episodes, things probably aren’t looking good for Lynly. While I haven’t really minded George and Lynly lately, I love, love, love George and Tansy so you can guess how I feel about this development.

Zoe’s Uncle and Joel’s Grandma Connect

…and they have more chemistry than Zoe and Joel. His grandmother is visiting from New York and they’re having an early Hanukah celebration, even though none of them really know the meaning behind the holiday (Okay, I’m not the most religious person ever and I understand the writers were going for humor here, but seriously? A doctor and a writer don’t know how to use Google? Look it up instead of being ignorant). Anyway, Zoe’s uncle gets bit by a squirrel, she invites him to lunch, he hits it off with Joel’s grandmother and then Vivian shows up and isn’t happy, which leads to the grandma being unhappy and Joel being unhappy because Zoe is the worst.

To be fair, I really don’t think Zoe intended to hurt anyone here. She wasn’t trying to play matchmaker. It just sort of happened and I think Joel and Vivian both overreacted. But the point was to get Zoe and Vivian talking again, which they did after Uncle Brando revealed that Vivian was bitter because her husband had left her. Zoe even convinced her cousin to join them at Lavon’s for dinner. I liked that Zoe was mature about all of this, something we don’t see from her often. She knows she screwed up, she knows there’s not an instant fix, but she wants to try and that’s good. But then there’s the other problem…

Wade Kisses Zoe!

Okay, it might not have been the great moment we were hoping for, but it still deserves an exclamation point headline because it happened. Wade had a toothache, but he’s afraid of the dentist so he was putting off going until Tansy showed up and basically dragged him there. But first, she gave him an anti-anxiety pill to relax him (side note: Wade’s line about how if you have to take pills to get through your job, you probably shouldn’t be working there was spot on). Wade took three pills instead of one so he was in his own little world and decided to take a stroll through the holiday maze.

Zoe happened to be in there as well and when Wade saw her, he grabbed her, kissed her and then walked away. It would have been swoon-worthy to begin with, but it was even better because Wade had told Tansy earlier that the pills helped him see the truth. Obviously the truth is that he loves Zoe and belongs with her and wanted to kiss her (please excuse my fangirl moment).

But of course everything was ruined in the morning when Zoe was waiting for him to wake up and explain. He apologized, blamed the drugs and asked her not to tell Joel because they were pals and Zoe agreed they’d never speak of it again.

But Tansy (and Dolly) was sleeping on the couch and she heard the whole thing and told Wade that it was time to move on and start dating woman who he could really have a future with. I love Tansy and I can acknowledge that this was good advice, but ugh, really? Why couldn’t she have told him that life was short and he needed to fight for the woman he loved? I already know the answer. Zoe and Wade fans aren’t allowed to have nice things.

Someone spoiled me on this new development a few weeks ago, but even if they hadn’t, the writing was on the wall. Wade had been invited to the holiday dinner. Vivian had been invited. Earlier in the episode, the two shared a quick scene that established that they knew each other, which wasn’t shocking since Bluebell is a small town. But guess who offered to drive Vivian home after the party? And guess who watched Wade and Vivian leave together and seemed upset about it? Sigh.

I still don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I understand why Zoe and Wade aren’t together. They’re not ready. Wade is growing as a person, which he needs to do to be in a relationship with Zoe. And I’m not upset that he’s decided to move on. Why wouldn’t he move on when Zoe makes it clear that she’s not interested? Sure, she’s lying and Wade knows that, but why should he wait around forever while she goes on and on about how happy she is with Joel?

But seriously, writers, does it have to be Zoe’s cousin? I know it makes things more dramatic, but really? Couldn’t it have just been a random Bluebell resident? It’s a small town. Zoe would still see them together everywhere and she’d see Wade had changed and realize she wants him back. It didn’t have to be a family member, especially since I’d really like to see Zoe bond with her family because I think it’s good for her because she needs more good people in her life.

Also, it makes me sad that the writers broke tradition. In season one’s midseason finale, we got the moment where Zoe gave Wade hope for the first time. Last season, we got the moment where Zoe told Wade that she wanted to have a real relationship with him. Sure, we got our first kiss of the season in this one, but then we got massive amounts of heartbreaking foreshadowing. That’s not really the midseason finale miracle that we were hoping for, writers.

What do you guys think? Are you happy Wade is trying to move on? Do you wish it was with someone else? Will you miss Lemon as much as I will? Are you happy we’ll at least have Shelby and Tansy in the meantime? Hit the comments and share your thoughts with us!

Hart of Dixie returns Monday, Jan. 13 at 8/7c on The CW.