Profrrplum

Well, it's all about sex. I'll leave to others the admiration of Ephram without a shirt, and other details (although there was nothing really graphic in the episode), 'cause I want to think a little bit about what all of this means for the long-term story arc of character development which is at the core of Everwood for me.

Ephram, Amy, Linda, and less directly Maddy (who I think knew it already, wise Maddy), Tommy (who ends up being surprisingly good in all respects in his relationship with Amy except for the fact that, oh, yes, he's a repeatedly felonious drug dealer), and Dr. Andrew Brown, all learn, or have their learning refreshed, that sex is just not all that easy a thing to deal with. No wonder, Andy (who's old enough to remember the book) might have said, that Erica Jong wanted "This Zipless *****." But there is no such thing.

And as a structural matter, I think the writers, director, and producers (oh, yes, with a little help from the cast), did an absolutely wonderful job of doing what needed to be done to make this episode convey its message without the usual smarm of teen shows (of course, Everwood is not just a teen show -- statistics compiled by Nielsen indicate that its mean audience age is 41). Emily VanCamp continues to amaze me with the excellence of her acting; I pick her out because during the first season I thought she was pretty much a Jane One-Note, and I like to emphasize how wrong I was. Everyone else, right down to and definitely including Vivien Cardone, does an excellent job as well.

And what did they convey? To me, the teen characters (I include Maddy in that despite her exalted status of being 20) learned or to an extent re-learned that the fantasy worlds we construct aren't always very congruent with the real world of experience, that things don't necessarily work out as we've planned, and that for all that things can be pretty good if we just face them up and deal with them on our own terms rather than waiting for stuff to happen to us. Maybe old advice, but human existence dictates that we must re-learn this stuff every eighteen years or so -- so that's OK. We who've been there need to be refreshed in it, too, as Andy's and Linda's experience shows -- mature adults both, sexually experienced, at the basic height of their personal powers, they aren't much better off than the teens when it comes to dealing with the complexities of feelings and sex (complicated by the HIV matter in a sense, but that's not really the main thing, as Andy pretty eloquently explained). Edna does a little better in her own way, getting through to Amy in one of the best-acted scenes this always well-acted show has presented, but she's not directly having to deal with the problem. Still, she sees it: "you all don't have much kid time. It all gets pretty serious pretty fast."

They all grew some in this episode, maybe even Tommy-the-pusher. He certainly behaved as well as any teen boy could ever be expected to behave in terms of respecting Amy's choices and needs. Although I think drugs should be generally legalized, regulated, and taxed, I nonetheless have no use for those who sell them to schoolkids under present conditions -- but it's hard to find Tommy completely dark. As the God of Joan of Arcadia might say, there is light in all of us to begin with; I'm not convinced that Tommy's light has yet been fully extinguished. He certainly seemed to figure out that there might be something in Amy that was worth more than the drugs and their money. Probably the first time in his life that he's actually experienced that. But can he execute on the idea? Maybe we'll see.

So the main characters all grew, perhaps even including Delia, who (albeit that she was bribed a bit -- hey, Delia, you ever seen that horse? beward of Andy's promising gifts!) OK'd Andy and Linda's sleepover -- and let's not think for a New York second that she didn't comprehend what was meant by that, in general terms at least. But growth doesn't come without pain and the need to think.

I rate this episode a solid "A."
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"We sometimes act as if we think we could stop the world from spinning just by being mad." -- Irv.