jediwands

jediwands

I watched the episode early this morning since insomnia allowed me to do so at 3 AM.

Thoughts coming shortly!

jediwands

Quick Thoughts While Watching

- Hannah being a writer and details about Hannah's writing (or very close) is based on Rina as a child/teenager. Rina mentioned in an interview Hannah was literally extracted from her childhood.

- Ephram looks so relaxed, mature, peaceful and content with Amy. What a difference a year makes when you're in the wrong relationship with the wrong person versus being in the right relationship with your ideal/soulmate person. We are seeing it!

- During the identification of the medical case, I wanted to cry. What a horrible situation. All I thought about is how so many people deal with an actively dying loved one. My mother died suddenly, right in front of me, and while it messed me up for several years even (I am finally getting through all the bad anxiety like panic attacks and PTSD, and depression it caused) I couldn't imagine knowing she was dying within 6 weeks and would have to spend that time with her and how tough it would be. My mental health would suffer even worse with such a lingering but end result being the same type of scenario. I am sorry for anyone who has to deal with such heartbreaking circumstances.

- Treat Williams in comedic mode (as well as dramatic mode) is worth the price of admission every, single, time.

- No Edna or Irv in this one. Not that we see a lot of Irv (I miss the narrating, Irv!) but given Edna's big 3.3 storyline, I definitely looked around wondering when she was going to appear (even if I already knew she wouldn't, hee).

- Harold saying "Booyah" is legitimately one of the funniest lines of the series.

- I really wanted to hear Ephram or Amy read out loud the love letter Ephram wrote for Amy!

- Chris Pratt did a terrific job as Bright approached Harold in the last scene during the bedroom fight. His screen presence was amazing and so... very... present.

- I appreciate how Ephram is so laid back and just accepts Hannah. I really like how natural he is with her. I really love this. It shows what an accepting loving heart Ephram has. He certainly has voiced to Amy that she's super closed-off and different but with Hannah he is so sweet, kind and accepting. I like their intellectual conversations and of course, anything he tells her about his love for Amy.

- Andy and Nina are literally PARENTS in that final scene with Delia. I loved it so much, along with Delia's real and Everwood-like questions and answers.

Thoughts After Watching

I thought this episode was quite heartwarming and emotionally moving as it stressed the importance of a loving bond between two people, whether we are talking romantic love or friendship love, but the bonding is special and should be nursed and cherished because at any moment it can all be taken away (in a human way, that is). It also emphasized the importance of needing others after you suffer loss of some kind (Andy losing Julia and now has Nina, and Amy losing Laynie due to distance and now has Hannah). Survival and strength are key elements to this episode.

It was amusing when Delia found the vibrator under Nina’s bed, along with Nina's embarrassing response to what it was. Andy to Nina: “What is it about your house, Penthouses, foot massagers, it’s like living next door to Larry Flynt,” and it got even more hilarious when her and Andy attempted to cover up their conversation when Delia walked in the room, and Delia wasn’t buying any of it. Vivien's expressions were so bang on. What a good little actress. I thought that Andy’s later argument with Nina after Brittany's stepmother yelled at him (since, of course she did) revealed his classic ability to say confusing, inappropriate things when he's flustered and angered. But he later apologized for his insensitive behavior, and like I said, it was literally like Andy and Nina were parents talking to Delia about the questions that she had. I also loved Nina's reaction when Andy said she was pretty. She glowed and it was awesome.

Here is my take on why Andy was acting so strangely with Nina. It went above and beyond just realizing Julia isn't around anymore (which, I love how that was brought up again) or even nervous over Delia's questions on sex. This was my take years ago and it remains in the present:

Psych 101: So much of what Andy said to Nina in S3 and part of S4 before he admits his feelings was the complete opposite of what he meant... which is typically how it goes when you are struggling with confusing romantic feelings for someone. It is like saying the words somehow makes the reality untrue... as a result, Andy saying he never thought of Nina like that was his way of trying to convince his mind and heart that he truly didn't have feelings for Nina... it temporarily prevented him from coming to terms with his very real feelings for Nina. Andy did this so much which is why sometimes even if I wanted to strangle Andy for how he would say something stupid to Nina before he admits his feelings, I could never really blame him since he was going through is own little psychological turmoil/denial and he needed it until the time was right and he could finally face the reality that he had fallen deeply for Nina romantically.

I feel conflicted regarding the Harold and Bright situation, to be honest. On one hand, I thought it was great that Bright was taking such pride in the job he had gotten, but on the other hand, Harold did take active interest in helping Bright and quite honestly, a career in Hotel and Hospitality Management could be a good calling for Bright. Harold did take interest, which is something he failed to do at times in the past. Now, Harold was absolutely in the wrong for going to Bright's boss and arranging it so he could go on an interview. That was completely crossing the line and totally embarrassing for Bright, no doubt about it. But I think Harold had his heart in the right place and I love that he actively tried to help Bright. I could understand his fears due to Bright's past history. How could he not be concerned that Bright would be content and maybe give up on college? I like that Harold also reminded Bright once again that he still has many college options ahead of him even if his dream route failed because he started it way too late during his senior year. I also love that Rose told Harold that they were in this together, and I especially loved it when Harold kissed Rose's hand in such a tender way. What a beautiful scene and so different from when Harold tried to control Rose during the horrible way they both handled Amy's S2 depression.

I still do not like Jake and find him so clownish during the comedic scenes as he's trying to be funny while sticking a knife in one of their backs. I guess the hug between Jake and Andy was somewhat funny because I loved Andy's reaction, and Jake did have a point that their main duty as doctors is to save lives, but as usual, he simply didn’t want to listen concerning why Andy had to take a passive approach with Mr. Hoover. The scene between Andy and Mr. Hoover created tears, and I could totally understand what Mr. Hoover told Andy: “I know that life will go on when she’s gone, but it won’t be the same. It won’t mean what it meant when she was in it,” along with “We’ve been partners for every bump along the road and every mountain and molehill alike. When she’s gone, I’m gonna need a new heart anyway, because this one will be broken to bits.” I could relate to this so much due to my mother's passing. My mom died of a cardiac arrest I actively witnessed and it was the worst moment of my entire life by far. I remember my heart shriveling up and not functioning properly for years after her death until I got the anxiety and depression under control. But also, for many, when you lose someone your heart literally can break medically speaking and you can eventually develop heart-related issues. This has happened so many times to others which can only mean there's a very strong spiritual element to death and loss and how it affects you as a human trying to accept it. Bringing it back to Everwood... the medical case made Andy think about how and when Julia died, and his later conversation with Nina about that loss was so moving. When he mentioned how they were a team, as Nina emphasized and acknowledged this reality... it was so powerful. I love watching Stephanie's nonverbal communication in this scene as Nina's taking in what Andy is saying, as she was there with her friend and soon to be romantic partner, every step of the way.

I really enjoyed all the scenes between Ephram and Amy and Hannah and once again, we see Hannah shipping Ephram and Amy as she beautifully came up with a way to open up to her friend, Amy, as well as help out Ephram and Ephram and Amy at the same time. It was such a gorgeous moment. I wanted to jump through the screen and thank Hannah for being so sweet and helpful and I found myself very happy that Amy and Hannah would continue on that journey of becoming best friends and not just casual or mildly good friends. I mentioned above how much I appreciate Ephram just allowing Hannah to be Hannah too. I love that scene between Hannah and Ephram when she shows him the evidence of her journals and how much she writes. That was such a sweet, natural, peaceful, intellectual scene. Ephram's response to Hannah when he realized what she did with her writing was so heart-warming as well.

I have a completely different take on Amy and Hannah during this watch. I actually really like this friendship during this rewatching in a way that I never have in the other watches: Think about it... the developing friendship between Amy and Hannah. How often do you actually see a female friendship on either the small or large screen actually evolving/developing, showing the ups and downs and entire evolution? This is not something you typically see in the least. But Everwood did this with Bright and Ephram in S2 (and it started in S1) and now we are seeing a beautiful example of two older teenagers who are girls go through a realistic process of developing a bond of friendship. Everwood does it all.

I love that Ephram was writing Amy a love letter. I loved how he sort of fumbled and questioned Hannah about Amy's responses to their ILY's. So sweet. It was so sweet how he wanted to set up a time and place where he could be the one to say "I Love You" first. Adorable. I also love that Amy shared the ILY's with Hannah as it shows how joyous Amy was that they reached this point in their relationship.

Love how Ephram said this to Amy...

"Did I mention how good you look today?" That was so sweet, as well as the flirty dialogue when Amy tells Ephram that she has been sharing personal stuff with Hannah to which Ephram acknowledges that he knows and gives her a cute smile, while she then looks at him in a loving and flirty way. Their looks/exchanges are too perfect for words.

Amy's line to Ephram..

"You're the guy that I talk to my girlfriends about. It's a very crucial role, trust me." Also, the flirty smile exchanges between Ephram and Amy during this scene was so cute.

At the anniversary dinner I LOVED the friendly "SMACK" Amy gives Ephram at the beginning. It is this kind of stuff that makes this couple have those added extras.

I loved that it was established at this point, they have been together for four and a half months. Also, I loved their ILY's at the dinner even though Ephram was bummed that he couldn't say it first. The way that Amy looks at Ephram when she says it is so perfect.

Loved their end scene (as I mentioned above) where Hannah brilliantly writes a story about Ephram's love for Amy. The exchange between Ephram and Hannah was perfect. You could tell at first Amy was concerned as to why Ephram wrote her a love letter but never gave it to her. Then when Ephram explains, I love her response and how she said name. These two are so cute, I want to poke my eyes out sometimes. LOL. I love how Amy has to cover her mouth in trying to stop herself from telling Ephram she loves him. The realness of the Ephram and Amy relationship amazes me. Just noticing how different Ephram is with Amy versus Madison is quite telling. Not that there was EVER any comparison, but the transformation of Ephram alone tells a beautiful story. He was in hell to put it mildly in S2. His dreams have come true in S3 with Amy. What they have together is massive and so spiritual. It seems like every scene they have together is just a small but significant piece to the puzzle of their love story. Greg and Emily have this ever present and captivating chemistry together that just IS.

I really liked this episode very much. S3 has a very different energy than S2 as we all know. It feels so crisp, light, and beautiful.

I want to end this review quoting the one and only, Alan, and a small piece of his sage wisdom regarding this episode:

So well said, my very close friend, who is with me always.

jediwands

Yes! I really think that's exactly what it's about with Andy. 100% all about his feelings for Nina he's clearly trying to hide, even to himself.

Jake was terrible in this episode. He didn't remotely attempt to listen to Andy. He is a lot like the version of Andy in NYC. He simply doesn't listen, and I dislike how he forgets the human element. It doesn't exist for him. All about money or "mechanically" helping patients since it's his "duty" to go there. He couldn't have been so dumb (but he was) to think Andy didn't have a reason for "failing" to get the patient (or a client for Jake) to get the surgery immediately. He's been burned in every episode concerning medicine and he continues to think he knows better.

I am sorry to hear about your grandmother.

Parents can certainly have blinders on when they want something for their child. They think they're helping but only making it worse.

That's awesome.

everwoodfan52

My thoughts.....

Delia does ask a lot of questions....it's a foot massager...let's move on.

Andy over-reacted as usual. This seems to be him MO. Seriously! Nina has a right to have anything she wants under HER bed.

Delia is a little too shrewd for her own good....and she has that death glare down pat.

I'm happy for Bright that he's finally feeling good about himself. I'm still pissed at him, however, for the way that he handled his date with Hannah.

Amy gets so much involved in her friends that it's often overkill!

Oh no! Brittany is going to involve her stepmom. This can't be good!

Jake is more annoying than ever. Andy: "I still don't like you." Neither do I!

Amy is really presumptuous to ask to read Hannah's journals. She needs to sometimes read social cues....listen to Hannah's feelings and not be so pushy!

Poor Ephram feeling overshadowed by Amy's gift..

Brittany's stepmom makes Andy's tirades sound so minor. Wow....talk about over-reactions! Ridiculous!!

Poor Nina! It's Nina's fault?!? Andy: "I don't want to think about you as a woman...ever!" Wow! What a colossal slap in the face!Just what Nina needs to hear.

Shut up, Harrold!! You have never trusted Bright's judgement and seldom shown him that you are proud of him. It's wonderful that Bright spoke up.

And...Shut up, Jake!! He's your patient...you handle it and lay off Andy!

Very sweet of Hannah to write that story about Amy and Ephram. She killed two birds with one stone. She enabled her friendship with Amy to continue and she made it known to Amy that Ephram wrote her a love letter. A win win!

I love the Amy/Ephram exchange and I adore Blake Neely's Amy/Ephram theme music playing in the background.

Here comes Andy....walking up to Nina's home with his tail between his legs having to apologize again!

Nina and Andy are so compatible..why can't you see this, Andy? Nina sees it.

Harold & Rose...common theme: Parenting as team work.
Love that Andy& Nina are parenting Delia as a team.

everwoodfan52

That's interesting. I didn't know that!

He really is so relaxed. He's often seen lying on a sofa very very comfortable. Love it!

That's the thing about Harold. He cares about his kids as he should, but he takes over their lives...makes decisions without even consulting them about it first. He did the same thing with Amy by setting up that Princeton interview and did it again by rearranging Bright's work schedule. That's just not the way to handle this. It's good that he and Rose are discussing and working as a team.


I like this developing friendship as well. Hannah is new and needs friends. Amy needs a good friend as well...having lost Laynie and being left with a bunch of snobby friends. I believe Amy and Hannah to good for each other. Hannah is not Laynie, but I guess we should be happy with what we have.

: .

That was adorable and Ephram is very happy to play that role!

everwoodfan52

I agree. Jake had no right to force his feeling on his patient. It's a tragic situation that both husband and wife have a very serious illness...heartbreaking....but one can understand that the husband wants to use all of his energy for his wife's comfort and not give her anymore stress. I really feel badly for the daughter and I hope that when the wife passes, the husband can get his new heart and enjoy being a grandfather.

jediwands

This was a repeat of when Delia found the Penthouse magazine at Nina's so it seemed repetitive. I think the point to this storyline was for Andy to think of Julia again AND inserting very strong hints based on how he reacted to Nina, that he was falling for her romantically in a more obvious way.

She uses the death glare throughout the entire series when necessary.

He never should have gone there. Of course, we also know he ends up cheating too which was the worst.

I can see why she went there. She missed Laynie and generally dislikes her other childhood friends. She found realness in Hannah and like she directly said, Hannah reminds her of Ephram. Like she was drawn to Ephram, she is drawn to Hannah. Hannah is the platonic version of Ephram to her right now. So I can see why she was persistent and emotional. Hannah obviously didn't mind TOO much since she seemed devastated when Amy said she'd back off and they could just be casual friends.

Always a bad sign.



Jake gets worse with each episode.

I agree but maintain what I said above as the reasoning behind Amy's persistence and if it has to do with Ephram (and generally disliking her childhood friends), I am giving it a free pass. But the reading of the journals was incredibly personal. It would be like Hannah asking Amy what she feels like precisely when she dances, what her thoughts and emotions are when she's "free" while dancing. Very personal. Amy talked Ephram to Hannah, yes, but it still is not the same as general very private thoughts she writes in her journals so I can see why Hannah initially was very scared and defensive.

Definitely.

She is horrible. I hate that Delia is even still friends with Brittany though so I wish the stepmom would have kept her word and finally for good, not allowed Brittany near Delia!

100% due to Andy's romantic feelings for Nina he was too scared to address.

I did love when Chris Pratt as Bright walked towards the door as Harold was leaving the bedroom... that moment was so chilling.

Jake only hears what he wants to hear. He's insufferable.

I loved it too. Go Hannah!



Yes, see, this scene when Andy awkwardly told Nina he thought she looked pretty... that was romantic tension-filled, and Nina knew this... which completely secures the theory that Andy stuck his foot in his mouth earlier, saying all the wrong things, because he is falling for Nina romantically more and more and is still too scared to put it into precise words.

Both Andy/Nina & Harold/Rose had beautiful last scenes together which wasn't a coincidence either...

jediwands

Indeed.

I wish I could find the interview. But Rina said Hannah was based on her in high school in every way, especially liking Bright types, writing and introversion.

Me too.

Wow, I forgot about the Princeton interview! You are so right. He even does this again. He does try to take over their lives. With Amy's depression, he knew best on how to NOT treat it either. He crossed a line more than once with both his children. Yes, at least with Rose and the teammate comment, she won't let him get too out of control in the future. They lacked severe communication in S1 and S2 and you can see how that has improved in S3 significantly.

I agree. I am seeing their friendship so differently now. Instead of focusing on Amy losing Laynie, she has a new, real friendship with Hannah who is sweet, kind, intelligent and a million times better for her than her other dumb childhood friends.

Plus, Hannah shipped Ephram and Amy from day 1... how on earth can we not like Hannah just based on this fact alone?

jediwands

Jake is pathetic. He is so clueless and insensitive to anything around him that doesn't fit his narrative. One of his "clients" almost died in an earlier episode because he didn't bother to read her history and gave her a medication that caused GI bleeding. Harold basically saved the day there. Jake just doesn't care, he didn't bother to figure out why Andy agreed with the man, who was losing his wife within weeks, and his choices. He was too stupid and uncaring to understand that given who Andy is, there was no way he wouldn't care or just give up without a good reason that was coming from his patient.

Yes, good point about his daughter. I wish we would have found out that he had a successful heart transplant and would be there for his daughter.

jediwands

I completely agree with you. Thanks for reminding me of what he does to Edna as well. He's honestly this clownish, annoying character. I didn't give him enough credit in the past for being THIS horrible. I just thought he lingered way too long and should have left our screens much earlier and mostly thought of Andy and Nina when I said as much. Now during this watch I am seeing how horrible his contribution is to the show in general. It's clear he is meant to be somewhat comic relief as well as this thorn for Andy and Harold because the tension between them professionally is gone since they are partners. That said, there were better ways the writers could come up with drama and extra energy concerning this aspect of the series. They didn't need to bring in clownish Jake who is really this superficial piece of annoyance that needs to go away.

I have a feeling TPTB were so in love with Scott Wolf and that is why we had to keep poking our eyes out as Jake existed on the screen for two whole seasons.

everwoodfan52

It's interesting, Michelle, how a rewatch could change a person's feeling on a character. This rewatch has you finding Jake even more annoying and finding Hannah a good friend to Amy.
I found this rewatch as caused me to really abhore Madison when I didn't mind her as much the first time I watched Everwood. Interesting.

jediwands

Right?! It is so interesting. I wonder if it's because we are watching it way more closely during this rewatch and truly analyzing it in a way that we never have before?

everwoodfan52

I think that's it! We are watching more carefully so that we can find new things to discuss that we didn't find the last time we watched. I mean....how many things can you say about an episode?

jediwands

That’s so true.