‘Hart of Dixie’ Review: ‘The Very Good Bagel’

Finally, finally, finally, FINALLY…is basically the only way to describe the absolute joy last night’s Hart of Dixie brought those of us who have been waiting for Wade and Zoe to get to this point in their relationship since the first time they shared the screen in season one. It’s been a long, often painful journey, but now that this episode happened, it all seems worth it, right? (Yeah, parts of it were definitely not worth it, but let’s put on our shipper goggles and forget those!).

“The Very Good Bagel” began with a few last bumps on that road to happiness. Wade fumbled quite a bit with the pregnancy news. After spending the night waiting for Zoe to come home, he tracked her down in Lavon’s kitchen while George and Lavon stood by with full on secondhand embarrassment as Wade stammered that he knew nothing about a baby, but it was okay because Zoe was a doctor and she could do all the hard stuff (oh, honey). Needless to say the good doctor did not care for that idea.

Next, Wade turned to Earl for advice. On the one hand, it makes me so happy every time these two have a father-son moment because they’ve come so far and Earl has always wanted Wade and Zoe together. Unfortunately, Earl’s advice involved giving Wade his mother’s ring to propose to Zoe…and once Zoe realized that was about to happen, she freaked out and again, who can blame her? No woman wants to hear, ‘Well, we’re having a baby, we might as well get married.’ Side note, I loved Zoe and Brick’s talk (as always) and him pointing out that he managed on his own and Zoe challenging him to think of one marriage because of pregnancy that actually worked.

So Zoe decided to run to New York to have some time to think and put distance between her and Wade. Her mother suggested Zoe move back home and then threw a party filled with professionals who could help her (real estate agents, preschool board admins, a surgeon who specialized in tightening things after a woman gave birth…) and as Zoe tried to find a place to hide, Candice opened the door to find Wade in the hallway. She coolly told him Zoe had no interest in talking to him at the moment, but Wade wanted to talk to her first anyway.

To be honest, I forgot about Candice slapping Wade, mostly because I like to put everything connected to the cheating out of my head. But their conversation was one of the many, many things I loved about this episode. Once again, Wade took responsibility for his actions and assured Candice that he’d grown a lot the past few years, but not only that, he regretted hurting Zoe and he wanted to fight for them and would continue to fight for them. I’m so proud of how far Wade’s come and Candice was obviously impressed because she took him back to the apartment, introduced him to the room and then Wade and Zoe finally had some alone time outside.

Zoe knew how huge it was for Wade to come to NYC in the first place and I love that she acknowledged that. She’s grown a lot too over the years. Like Wade, she had her fears. They’ve tried and failed so many times and now they’re having a baby. Wade agreed that there were uncertainties, but that would never change. Then he followed up with the greatest line ever when he told her that you had to find one thing you knew was true and hold onto that and for him, it was that Zoe was the love of his life (and I basically melted into a heart-eyed fangirl puddle at that point).

The next morning, Candice found Wade sleeping on the couch and assumed things didn’t go well, but Zoe popped up and said they were just being respectful since she was in the next room. The two were all smiles (with some obvious underlying nerves at the thought of being parents) as they confirmed they were together and they were going to be together and they sealed it with a kiss (and again, fangirl puddle). It’s been 84 years (or three seasons and three episodes if you want to be technical), but this is exactly where these two belong and I’m so happy for them (and for those of us who have been waiting for this). Well done, show.

Now to the other big love story on the show…the battle for Lemon’s heart. Like Zoe and Wade’s plot, the show balanced the lighthearted with the heavy emotional stuff for George, Lemon, Lavon and AB. To keep Dash quiet about them leaking Henry’s story, George and Lavon were forced to participate in his Pride & Prejudice reenactment while Lemon, AB and Cricket headed up to George’s family’s lake house to recreate a fun weekend they had in high school when they were at the top of their game. I absolutely loved these scenes, watching the ladies let loose and then read their high school wishes (some of which came true, but didn’t work out like AB’s marriage).

Cricket accidentally locked them out of the cabin so George and Lavon had to come rescue them. Lavon ended up taking a drunken Cricket and AB home. More hilarity ensued until AB confessed to Lavon that she was still in love with him. While this was happening, Lemon and George seemed to be heading for a romantic reunion until they got on the discussion of being each other’s first loves and Lemon pointed out how safe those memories made her feel. Suddenly, George realized that he wasn’t in love with Lemon after all and he’d gotten caught up in the memories. Then George told Lemon everything that had been happening, including Lavon still being in love with her. Once they were back in Bluebell, AB told Lemon she still loved Lavon. Judging by Lemon’s expression, she shares the sentiment.

Okay, this was literally my worst case scenario since I was rooting for Lemon and George, but after watching this episode, I think the writers made the right call. George and Lemon were each other’s first loves and they turned to each other again when their lives went to hell. They sought comfort and familiarity and they’ll always have that powerful friendship and happy memories. So I’m not going to be too sad that they didn’t work out because they’re not meant to be and that’s fine. But I will be super unhappy if George doesn’t find someone new over the course of the next seven episodes. It doesn’t have to be a soulmate, but I want him to have genuine happiness.

As for Lavon, there was a time I rooted for him and Lemon. There was also a time I rooted for him and AB. Now, I think both women should steer clear of him, but I’m guessing that’s not how it’s going to happen. I like Lavon. I love his friendships with Zoe and Wade and George. But I can’t get past him hurting AB when she tried so hard not to get involved with him in the first place because of Lemon. I do not want to see their friendship damaged in any way so I’m a little apprehensive about the rest of the season. But since I’m currently shouting from the rooftops over my happiness for Zoe and Wade, I’m going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and hope they have the perfect solution to this. If not, at least we can look forward to Wade wearing a table cloth in next week’s episode.