'Tos

We'll keep this up for one week and then go on to the next episode. After you've watched the episode, you can comment on it anyway you'd like, big or small. You can focus on certain characters, scenes, quotes, or the episode as a whole. You can tie the episode to the rest of the series, or comment about it as a self-contained episode. It's all up to you! You can always give your thoughts after the one week period, as all rewatch threads will stay open for more thoughts and anymore discussion. Thanks!

Colin the Second

Written By: Joan Binder Weiss
Directed By: Mel Damski

Imdb

If you haven't already, please feel free to comment on our previous episodes:

The Pilot
The Great Doctor Brown
Friendly Fire
The Kissing Bridge
Deer God
The Doctor Is In
We Hold These Truths
Till Death Do Us Part
Turf Wars
Is There a Doctor in the House?
A Thanksgiving Tale
Vegetative State
The Price of Fame

'Tos

I'll say it first: shut up, Carl.

I'll have actual thoughts later, heh. I just felt like saying that. I is random.

'Tos

Not one of my favourites. Yes, even with it being so Colincentric, hee. I guess it's just the whole basketball, Carl, king/queen thing. And not enough Harold. The piano story, though, is very nice. Although then we get introduced to another annoying character in Matthew. Shut up, Matthew. And the Colin story is good. There's great moments in this one, but I don't think that I'd call it a great episode.

Colin is pretty hilarious here. The Ephram/Colin friendship would have been a lot of fun. It doesn't last very long at all, sadly, but we get some cute banter. They're both all snarky and moody all the time here. This episode, the one before, and "Home" are basically why I like Colin. He's sympathetic in all three, but with a touch of coo-cooness, heh. What can I say? I like 'em crazy. The Bob the Second storyline is fantastic stuff as well. Writing, delivery, score. Good scene.

Awkwardness abounds in Andy watching Nina and Carl making out and the conversation that follows, and then in Colin taking 80 minutes to explain gerrymandering. Although good for him for putting up his hand. Other classmates, you all have detention. The guy has no memory and he's putting up his hand. What's your excuses? Heh.

Carl is such a child. "We made a deal"? This is how you're trying to win an argument? He keeps using Sam as a shield so that Nina can't fight with him anymore too .I think that some of the writing is a little forced, but Stephanie Niznik is rocking it in this episode.

Ah, Bright replacing Colin for Amy. My only teary-eyed moment of the episode, but man that is one sweet scene. A lot of this episode feels a little too teen-drama with the king and queen and the basketball game and all that jazz, but this moment makes it all worth it. Good Bright episode overall, really.

• It must be council night, because Rose won't even come to her own son's game? Bad mother.
  
• "Bright Abbott is our man. Let's give him a great big hand!" Harold. Not enough of him, but he's got some great lines and he's a typically awesome dad as usual in this one.
  
• Bright: "Like Michael and Scotty, except shorter...and whiter."
  
• Ha, Delia is a pig. And knows more about parenting than frickin' Andy. Oh, and she's easier to handle and she knows it. CUTE.

Thief Of Love

Betty's absence = I actually get more rewatching done, more quickly, out of a desire to keep up board activity, hee.

This is a fairly non-Everwood-feeling episode of the show. The high school focus is really out of place. But I think I'm also not thrilled with the heavy emphasis on people who aren't Browns or Abbotts, for some reason. It's weird, I know, because Nina certainly had her own storylines in S3 and 4 (though I'll take Jake over Shutup Carl any day), and Colin's story is bound up in everyone else's, but...the balance feels rather off, in a way that it doesn't seem to in later episodes in S1 and after. Like they were still getting a feel for how to structure the stories?

• "Agatha Schnitzler. Are you trying to set me up again? Because she sounds hot." Hee.
• Bright looks bizarre in a basketball uniform. I can't figure out why, but...man, he looks strange. Glad we didn't really have to see that again.
• I can't help but spend most of Carl and Nina's screen time thinking that it's all rather pointless, considering what's coming with his next appearance. I know they need to lay the groundwork for all their problems so the subsequent developments aren't totally sudden, and that's smart storytelling, but still. (Although I do also think that part of his investment in this particular travel-heavy sales career must be tied to the, er, freedom it permits him.)
• Word on the gerrymandering scene, 'Tos. Awkward. (And replace the recent brain surgery patient with me, and it's like a flashback to a few of my college classes, hee. Somebody raise a bloody hand!)
• Amy's friends are insufferable. Not that they're doing anything wrong here, or being any different from how they usually are, or taking up more than thirty seconds of screentime. I just felt like saying it. Valley Girl-talking popular girls.
• "He's sort of Everwood's version of Tom Cruise." Should I, um, read anything into that choice of comparison? Not on Harold's end, of course, but on the writers' part? Because I totally just did, and it made me snort.
• I don't think they spend nearly enough time showing the pregame dance routine. Really, 67 minutes just isn't enough.
• "Ephram, why is the Abbott kid waving at you?" and "Probably just needs help counting the points." Hee. And Ephram's lucky that Bright didn't shove him off that "wooden plank." Huh, anyone out there who knows anything about high school basketball -- do bench players really not see playing time, or very much, at least? I'm NBA girl, so I'm used to 48 minute games with second- and third-stringers seeing several minutes of action. I assume the situation would be different in this setting, with the shorter games and all. And, ha! Where is Rose? Oh, the days before Merrilyn Gann had a regular contract.
• Aw, Bright is a good brother. I wonder if he stole Amy's Homecoming tiara and that's what he wound up giving Hannah at their stupid cheesy fake prom date? [/randomness]
• Aw, Harold is a good dad.
• ACK! 5 seconds of slo-mo basketball playing! Make the cheese STOP! Of course, it took me more time to type this than the time the slo-mo actually took up, but still. Any slo-mo scenes of athletic activity are bad if the context isn't a network dedicated exclusively to sports coverage.
• Hurrah for movement on the piano front! Yes, the guy will prove to be a jerk, but anything to do with piano is good.

And finally...

• Dangit. I'm...I'm sort of...I...the scenes with Ephram and Colin, they're...they're perfectly...nice. They're good scenes. Interesting. Thoughtful. GRR! I blame you for this, 'Tos. Ugh, I'd better find some way to keep myself from being infected by your Amy-love, posthaste.

'Tos

You rock. I'm just glad that Leo came back, because without her, today would have been the slowest day in a long, long time. It just figures that right when Betty leaves, a bunch of other people also go/stop posting! and *pulls out hair*

I agree on the non-Everwood feel of the ep. I think the next one will also have some of that feel, but it has tons of Harold to help mitigate that. And Laynie. This episode definitely could have used Laynie to counter some of the popular high school stuff with lots of snark. I have no idea where she'd fit, of course, but maybe cutting down that 67 minute dance scene in half would have been enough. Way to get Emily's dancing talent into an episode in a non-forced and subtle way, guys!

Mwahahahaha! More success! Seriously, they make a cool pair when they both hate the world. If Colin and Ephram had endured this friendship, maybe Colin would never have become so cocky and annoying, and everyone would like him as much as I do! Instead, he acts like a jerk to Ephram in his final moment with him, and then dies. Karma, Colin. Karma.

Thief Of Love

Oddly, "Snow Job" doesn't feel quite as out-of-place to me as this one does, probably because there's so much fantastic Harold action. Plus, Ephram gets his snark on in full force thanks to the emergence of Laynie, who, yes, could've been used here somehow to cut down on the high school society stuff...

...but having the team of Ephram and Confused, World-Hating Colin did mitigate the doofiness of Homecoming Basketball Kings and Queens EEEE! a bit. Not enough, or else I'd think more highly of this episode, heh, but that could be why I'm suddenly appreciating Colin more this time around. He's part of the in-crowd, but now feels disconnected from his former associates and hates the attention, all of which I can respect tremendously. My first viewing, I was concerned only with Ephram's end of things, and subsequent viewings came at a quicker pace which made me very tired of the Colin storyline, very quickly, but this way of going about it -- slowly rewatching a story the ending of which is already known -- really provides an excellent chance to reassess the storylines and characters. And analyze them in greater depth, though I haven't really been doing that in any of my little list posts, heh.

Still don't like Colin pre-accident, though. My feelings on him as far as the "We Hold These Truths" flashbacks are concerned remain the same. Smarmy, arrogant little Golden Boy of Everwood.

Do we know on what kind of terms Ephram and Will Cleveland last parted? Because, I'm thinking, mess with Ephram = meet your doom. Have to wonder if some words weren't exchanged in the hospital waiting room when Ephram and Irv (et al.) were awaiting the outcome of Bright's surgery. There must be some reason that we clearly see them in the same place in "Reckoning," but by "Goodbye Love," Ephram's claiming that he last saw Irv a couple of weeks prior to the events of that episode.

'Tos

Colin is definitely less in your face, all the time, at this pace. I mean, you may still grow tired of his storyline when he becomes cockier and meaner, but at least you get to appreciate his nicer moments. I'm kind of looking forward to doing the slower, more focused, rewatch with S2. The DVD rewatch made me appreciate things more, but I was still watching at marathon speed. Of course, I still think that Colin is easier to like than Madison, hee, so I'm not sure if a more focused rewatch will fix all of my misgivings.

Hee! And we thought Sarah/Hannah was the crazy one. Don't give Greg/Ephram a gun!

Anymore thoughts, by the way (not directed towards people that have been away, of course)? I don't mind keeping these up a little longer than a week, but, the last thread went so well and so quickly! What the heck happened? Hee.

'Tos

*crickets*

Thief Of Love

Did I ruin things by rewatching early? Because I'd swear this happened the last time I rewatched the episode and posted soon after you put up a thread, too, heh.

everwoodfan52

He kind of looks big and clumsy...as opposed to lean and athletic.

" I think that the writer actually considered Carl to be good looking, charismatic, and athletic (like Tom Cruise). I, frankly, didn't see it.....definitely not my type...even if he was straight!

It has been my experience watching High School sports that if the coach doesn't want to sub a player in....that player will sit the entire game. Let me tell you....it's really infuriating for those parents.

Did his brain injury prevent him from feeling pain? Pretty nasty cut trying to break into the truck.


Why doesn't Ephram realize how cold it is in Colorado? (going out to find Colin without wearing a jacket!) It's bad enought that he never wears gloves.

ShadowMagist

I really liked the Nina/Carl story in this episode...well, most of it. The scene in MJ's with the basketball story kind of dragged, but it did pretty much spell out how beloved Carl was to the town and paralleled Colin's story(sort of).

When Nina starts in on the sports store and how happy she is to see everything coming together only to have him stomp all over them...it's sad. Stephanie played that beautifully. And then the fight scene. She and Dylan had great chemistry there. I was almost sad that we didn't get to see as much of that dynamic. Almost.

Loved the Bright and Harold dynamic. The quotes posted above never fail to amuse.

Colin's "Bob the second" story was well done. The writing was really strong here. Joan Binder Weiss should've stayed with the show past season 2. This episode, We Hold These Truths, and Daddy's Little Girl(co-written with Rina) were all very strong efforts.

I consider her to be part of the second tier, big 3. Along with John E. Pogue and David Hudgins.

Taryn74

I was almost dreading rewatching this episode because Colin breaks my HEART so badly in this one. In the truck, looking for the list so he can get through the homecoming walk, and the hand.....gah.

*breathe*

Also, I have to endure a lot of Shutup Carl, which is never a good thing.

Anyway.

I feel so terrible for Nina in this one, even more so than when she finds out Shutup Carl is gay. Here she's still thinking her husband just does not want to be with her and she doesn't understand why. I can't believe he just stands there and looks at her with no expression while she cries and screams "You are nothing that I need!" and then says it's time for them to head to the game. Nina, WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THIS CREEP? Seriously?

Speaking of Nina and the game - why was she dressed up so nicely for a basketball game? That always throws me.

We didn't have homecoming when I was in high school, but does the Queen and her court really just go out there wearing whatever? I thought they wore prom dresses and stuff.

Hee! I agree.

Harold really is such a great dad. I love that the things that make him the most proud are when his kids are being really thoughtful and just good people. I thought his talk with Bright about how it's ok to be good without Colin was great too. They talk about Colin as though he's dead. Really fits in well with Colin's Bob the Second speech.

I *heart* Delia telling Andy that Julia used to yell at Ephram all the time, but not her because she's easier to handle. Heeeeeeee.

Something I don't understand - did Nina (or maybe it was SuC) really say that they had only been married six years? Or did she mean that he only became a travelling salesman six years ago? Because when SuC was retelling the championship game story he mentioned that he and Nina were dating at the time, and that was nineteen years earlier. I can't imagine that they dated for thirteen years before getting married. Unless she's a LOT younger than he is. Which would make his basketball story really disturbing.

"You totally pulled the sympathy vote, but whatever." SHUT UP AMY'S FRIENDS. They are the epitome of everything I hated about high school.

Thief Of Love

I totally never caught that before! But it fits with the generally confusing nature of Nina's backstory. There's something that still doesn't seem quite right to me about the Nina-and-Hannah's Nameless Mom-as-longtime-best-friends concept.

'Tos

I have not really thought much about Nina's backstory, so just for clarification, what are some of the elements of it that make her backstory so confusing? Other than what was said in this episode, hee, which was...wow. Did not notice that either. I'm too distracted by Stephanie Niznik to pay attention to the details apparently.

Absolutely. I love that speech. It's exactly what Colin is going through until he really gets his memories back and goes more than a little nuts, hee.

Thief Of Love

I...don't actually remember, heh. But I know over the course of the series there were various points at which something or other about Nina's history in Everwood would seem odd, and that stuck with me even though the details unfortunately did not. Perhaps I'll recall what those moments were as the rewatch progresses!