jediwands

jediwands

We are back!

Put this up a little early. Plus, it looked appropriate since it's the first day of 2022!

Looking forward to finishing the last 2 seasons of this amazing series!

everwoodfan52

I will be watching Wednesday...hopefully! The family is leaving Tuesday.

jediwands

Sounds good!

No rush!

I haven’t remotely started either. In fact I’ll even wait until Tuesday or Wednesday too!

jediwands

I liked this episode as well. I remember Scott Wolf from Party of Five and loved him on that show. Initially I was excited to have him on Everwood. The assumption was he’d only be involved with one season, though. I shouldn’t have assumed as much considering what Berlanti did with the Madison character.

Jerry D

I thought that this first episode of Season Three started off in a rather dark and foreboding manner as both a father and a son harbored secrets that consumed them and they lashed out at those who were closest to them as a result of it.

I missed having Irv narrate the opening scene of the episode as we “heard” Andy speak to Ephram in a letter, and Amy “spoke” to Ephram in an email. We saw that Andy narrated everything that was going on in his letter to Ephram, and it was hilarious seeing Harold renovating Andy’s office, much to his annoyance, as Harold talked in his usual disparaging way about the workers doing the renovation, but you could tell that Harold was grateful for Andy’s magnanimous offer to have him join his practice.

I liked hearing Amy’s affectionate letter to Ephram and I also liked hearing Bright and Delia’s letters to him, but I was saddened to see Delia burning all of her trademark baseball caps, and I was also sad to see that she was friends with Britney again.

I loved seeing that it was Amy who picked up Ephram at the airport, and I loved seeing their loving embrace, and I also loved seeing how happy Andy was to see Ephram, but we got a sense early on in this episode that something was “off” with Ephram.

It was so disconcerting to see tomboy Delia wearing a dress, and it was so nice that Andy built an entire musical studio for Ephram, who looked troubled when he saw it.

You could tell that Andy was irritated with the way that Harold was renovating their office, but he initially hid his displeasure as a letter he received from Madison troubled him, as she returned the checks that he sent her and she told him that she never should have come to him and not contact her anymore as Andy agonized over the decision that he had made, a decision that he still kept from Ephram.

I liked the advice that Edna gave Andy and she was right when she said that keeping this secret from Ephram was killing him, and that he had to respect Madison’s wishes and let her go.

I hated seeing Ephram, who was harboring his own troubling secret, treat Delia so horribly, yelling at her and throwing her out of his room, and he had no right to treat his sister that way. I also didn’t like how he seemed so distant from Amy as she excitedly talked about all the things they’d be doing together, but his mind was somewhere else, and just like his father, he turned inward and kept what was bothering him to himself.

I liked how Amy sensed that something wasn’t quite right with Ephram as she expressed her concerns to Bright, who dismissed them, clueless as ever, and she also expressed her concerns to Andy, who was in no mood at that point to talk to her.

In this episode we would get to meet a character who would play a prominent role in this season and in Season Four, Jake Hartman, who cozied up to Harold in an attempt to get him to rent his office to him, and Harold fell for his flattery hook line and sinker. I also noticed in this episode that they set the stage for a Jake and Nina relationship, because in the diner, he told Harold: “I'm just ready to start the next chapter in my life. Maybe meet a great woman to settle down with. Start a family”, and then he saw Nina and you could tell that he was immediately attracted to her.

I loved seeing Amy in that beautiful dress as she excitedly prepared for her date with Ephram, but then, to her dismay and Rose’s dismay, she saw that he was ignoring her call as he walked by the dress shop that they were in.

We saw that Andy ignored Edna’s advice and he went to see Madison, only to have her roommate tell him that she wasn’t there and that he shouldn’t be there, and she harshly lashed out at him, telling her that Madison looked up to him like a father and that her own father had abandoned their family when she was a child and her religious zealot of a mother didn’t take Madison’s news well and that she told Madison to tell Ephram everything. As much as I feel that Andy made the wrong decision to tell Madison not to tell Ephram that she was pregnant, I can’t and won’t put all the blame on Andy, and I put the blame on Madison. If she “looked up to Andy like a father,” and she thought that he was “a good man,” why did she ignore his repeated pleas to not get involved with Ephram and to be careful with his heart? Why did she sleep with Ephram knowing how wrong their relationship was? I think that both Madison and her roommate were wrong to put all the blame on Andy, but he bottled up all the guilt he felt and it would later come back to haunt him.

I liked seeing Harold talk about his father as he gave Jake a tour of his office, and you could tell how much he loved and admired his father and how he had fond memories of the time they spent working together in that office and he wasn’t quite ready to let that office, and the memories associated with it, go.

I hated seeing Andy blow up at Harold as he took his frustrations about Madison out on him.

I equally hated seeing Ephram lash out at Andy in his typical fashion, as both father and son harbored a secret that was deeply troubling them in this episode, so each one of them lashed out at the people that were closest to them to vent their frustrations as Ephram sensed that Andy was hiding something just like he himself was hiding something.

I liked that Andy apologized to Harold and that Harold told him that he missed having his practice with his father and that he was reluctant to lease his office due to that, but like Andy said, “You don’t let go of your memories, you keep them inside you and you take them with you,” and Harold heeded those words of advice and he agreed to lease his office to Jake, who then revealed that he was a doctor looking to set up his own practice in town, much to Harold’s chagrin.

We saw that Andy confided in Harold about Madison’s pregnancy and that he didn’t know where she was and he wasn’t sure if Ephram knew about her pregnancy, putting Harold in a difficult position because Amy was dating Ephram.

I loved that Delia called out Ephram for his reprehensible treatment of her and she told him that she had waited for him too, only to have him treat her horribly for no good reason.

I was glad that Ephram finally confided in Amy and he finally revealed the secret that he had been harboring, namely that he had “failed” at Julliard, and he felt like his dream of being a pianist was over and that he would have to practice night and day to catch up, and he needed time to figure everything out, and Amy told him that she’d give him that time – for now.

Overall, I felt that this was a rather gloomy start to this new season, and one yet unrevealed secret hung over this episode, and this season, like a dark cloud waiting to burst.

jediwands

^ Awesome, Jerry! I will watch soon and then post and respond to thoughts.

jediwands

Oh yes, I’ve heard of that movie but haven’t seen it.

jediwands

Thanks for the link!

jediwands

I just read your wonderful review, Jerry! Brilliant as always. I haven’t rewatched yet but everything you wrote I completely agree with. I’m up early and have to do some work and then I’ll get watching and post thoughts.

Jerry D

Thanks Michelle! I'll be looking forward to reading your thoughts on this episode.

jediwands

jediwands

I just realized amazingly I watched 3.1 at this time last year.

I said this about the Ephramy embrace:

https://www.fanforum.com/102880782-post44.html

jediwands

Video once again here:

Jerry D

You said that so perfectly as always! I got choked up watching that scene. Ephram and Amy really were the perfect couple.

Side note: The Only Living Boy in New York was originally a Simon and Garfunkle song. Here is their version of it: