‘Hart of Dixie’ Review: Another Couple Bites the Dust (and still not the right one)

Tonight’s episode of Hart of Dixie made me wonder if the show’s writers are trolling me. How else can one explain why each week another Bluebell couple calls it quits, but it’s never the one I want it to be? We’re 13 episodes into season three and Joel and Zoe seem stronger than ever and frankly, it’s just mean at this point.

I know I’m not alone in this thinking because after each episode, I hear from fellow dejected fans who don’t understand how/why Zoe and Joel is still a thing. It would be different if the writing was on the wall and each week chipped away at their bond. But they seem stronger than ever and so do Wade and Vivian. And it makes me want to throw things because all I want is to see Zoe and Wade sharing some screen time for a good portion of each episode.

Okay, now that my shipper tantrum is out of the way (sorry), let’s talk about “Act Naturally.” It was a fun episode and it made me laugh a lot (see, I can enjoy the show past the shipper level even if my shipper heart is crying super hard). Joel wanted to throw Zoe a birthday party and she reluctantly agreed (loved that Wade and Lavon both knew she hated them). But then a wrench was thrown into her plans when her mom came to town to surprise her.

Zoe didn’t want her mom to know that she’s been hanging out with the Wilkes’ family so Zoe came up with one of her infamous plans – she’d pretend she was with a sick patient while Joel kept her mother distracted. Zoe would spend some time at the party, make an excuse and then be at the restaurant before dessert. She saw it as foolproof and Joel has clearly met Zoe before and knew from the beginning that it would be a disaster.

But Zoe’s mom (I really should look up her name) was not the only parent returning in this episode. Crazy Earl was back and he was still shipping Zoe and Wade as hard as ever (he’s the best). Zoe’s mom, however, greeted Wade with an angry slap so obviously she was more clued in than Earl, who just assumed Joel (the one with the purse) was Zoe’s brother, even though they held hands and kissed (be right back, laughing forever). Zoe told Earl that things were over between her and Wade and he was upset and immediately went to make sure Wade was okay.

How awesome was that? I love how much Wade and Earl’s relationship has grown and that Zoe is a big part of that. I also loved when Earl said that he didn’t believe their relationship was over and he automatically hated Wade’s new girlfriend because he belonged with Zoe (Romeo and Mrs. Romeo). Zoe intercepted a drunken Earl at the party and sent word to Wade that there was an armadillo problem (scene callback!!!). For the first time in a long time, Wade and Zoe exchanged some meaningful looks while they were helping Earl and I really loved these scenes.

But in the end, Joel and Zoe were still solid and a cleaned up, sober Earl was very sweet to Vivian when he finally got to meet her (which is fine because I like Vivian. She’s just not the girl for Wade because he belongs with Zoe). Of course Zoe had her own problems. Despite being perfectly polite to Vivian and the other members of the Wilkes’ family at the party, Zoe’s mom decided that she was not going to let them win (I see where Zoe gets it from) and she was going to stay in Bluebell too. Here’s hoping that this will be the push that finally tears Zoe and Joel apart because come on. Why is it still happening?

I’m going to get to this week’s breakup, but first, let’s talk about the fallout from last week’s. AnnaBeth and Lavon were both in bad places, but they sucked it up for Zoe’s sake. AnnaBeth unloaded on Lavon, which was awesome, but Zoe made him feel better when she (correctly) told him that as horrible as it was that he hurt AnnaBeth, it would have been a lot worse to string her along and dump her later. I really loved Lavon and AnnaBeth, but this is the truth. AnnaBeth is too awesome to be second place (and she proved it again tonight when she helped Cricket out with the Belles).

Danny Feld/The CW

So that left the other couple I love…George and Tansy. The episode started off well for them when Tansy showed up at George’s office and announced that she didn’t want to take things slow after all and she wanted a date that night with dessert. George was totally onboard, but then he ran into Tansy’s ex-boyfriend Scooter, who had decided to change his life and become an environmentalist or something. George assumed it was a scam and enlisted Tom to help him prove it.

Unfortunately, Tansy believed in Scooter and chose to spend a lot of time with him. Tom’s information proved to be faulty and poor George looked like a fool. He made one last attempt to get Tansy to stick with him, but she had feelings for Scooter too and was committed to giving him another chance. Really, show? I just have to throw up my hands in defeat on this one because I don’t know what else to say. George gave a great speech about how they fact that they’re both unlucky in relationships means they should be together and he was right, but Tansy wasn’t having it.

Boo, show, boo. That’s all I have to say at this point. I’m really disappointed in this development. And now the show is on hiatus until March when it will move to Fridays. On the bright side, Lemon will be back when the show returns and I miss her desperately.

In the meantime, it’s your turn. Did you guys enjoy the episode? Are you sad about the latest breakup? Does it even count as a breakup since they were just getting back together? Did you love Earl shipping Zoe and Wade as much as I did? What’s it going to take to drive a wedge between Zoe and Joel? Will it be Zoe’s mom? Here’s hoping! Hit the comments and share your thoughts!

Hart of Dixie returns Friday, March 21 at 9/8c on The CW.