'Tos

Yeah, it's probably the first episode where they're more friendly, isn't it? I like that Harold kind of tags along with Andy like he's a little kid in some of the scenes.

everwoodfan52

But at the same time....he was critiqing Andy's parenting skills ( letting his 15 year old son hang out at a jazz bar).

'Tos

True. He was giving some good advice, in his usual mocking way, heh. Andy needed someone more level headed when it came to parenting to help him out with that kind of advice. Andy caved way too much to what Ephram wanted to avoid a bigger fight or to have Ephram like him--even though that never worked. I still hate that he ends up apologizing at the end of this episode. I'll never get over it.

break the window

Andy always thought he had it covered when it came to parenting of just letting Ephram do whatever he wanted. That worked lol

'Tos

Hee, exactly. The thing is, even though Julia was a "cool" parent to Ephram with the bonding and the joking, she never just let Ephram do what he wanted to do. She set boundaries. Andy was not good at that, probably because he didn't feel like it was his place to set boundaries right a way for a kid who rightfully hated him at first.

break the window

And Andy didn't know what to discipline either. He didn't know what was right for Ephram and what wasn't. He had no idea what his kids were about.

'Tos

Absolutely. Well said. And I think you see Andy experimenting with Ephram in S1. Because, as you said, he had no idea what Ephram, in particular, was about. So you see him go from jokey, to trying to be Ephram's friend, to trying to set boundaries, to trying to just let him be, to interfering, to yelling, to being honest, to holding things back. You see everything that Andy's got.

break the window

and it takes an entire series (short lived though) to see what Ephram's got

'Tos

Yes, absolutely. They connect more and more, and Andy really does start to understand Ephram more and more. I mean, those moments in "Home" where they really talk show some growth. But it's not until S4 where, I think, they truly bond. They talk like they did in "Home" all the time for most of S4. They're just open and honest. And it takes that long for Ephram to truly open up to Andy, and let Andy in to see exactly who he is. Andy needed that, and he didn't get it very much in S1, did he?

break the window

very much, if got anything out of Ephram in Season 1 he was lucky. Ephram couldn't trust his father. He could always be honest with Julia because he knew she would be there for him. She'd be there to give him honest and fair feedback and give him advice too. He was comfortable with her, especially when he asked the girl from the diner out on a date. With Julia, Ephram was fearless, he could tell her anything and he knew it'd be okay, he coudl be honest. He never had that with Andy. I bet when hew as growing up, he tried telling his dad EVERYTHING about his day. But as kids grow up, they learn what parent to go to for which thing. And Ephram, very quickly, found out that he couldn't go to Andy for anything. He and Andy had nothing to build on. It wouldn't make a difference what Andy would have said to Ephram when they were in New York, it didn't matter. Because Andy's answer wouldn't be Julia's answer. So no matter what, Andy would never please Ephram, never, wouldn't happen. And it wasn't fair to any of them. Ephram wanted to talk to his mom about real stuff, but he couldn't. He could even talk to Andy about dinner, much less a girl he liked at County High. It was a losing situation until Ephram, low and behold, realized one day that he can't expect to get Julia's answers out of someone else. He needs to learn how to get Andy's answers from Andy.

'Tos

Excellent point. Ephram was SO used to Julia. Her parenting style, how they were close, how he could talk to her about anything like she wasn't even his mom. He didn't expect Andy to be that because he never ever thought he would be since Andy started being a bad father, but he did miss that. The problem, too, I think, was that Andy was trying to be The Perfect Dad at first. Smiley, happy all the time, trying to be Ephram's friend. He didn't make a transition from Crappy Dad to "Perfect" Dad. He just suddenly woke up and was trying too hard. Ephram saw through that.

break the window

Ephram watched more of Andy in who he was and what he did then actually listening to him

Alexa

117:

The whole mystery of the episode was a bit ridiculous but also kind of fun to watch play out. Though Im a bit confused, so the guy didn't actually kill those people right? I also really liked seeing the Andy/Harold friendship. I do understand why most Everwood fans didn't like this one though. I definitely prefer episodes more focused around the kids.

I thought the piano teacher was super rude to Andy! Like, wtf dude, this guy is paying you, why the hell are you talking to him like that? Plus him talking to Ephram about personal things is fine as long as it doesn’t cross the line and I didn’t love him telling Ephram about a bar? Inappropriate. Completely agree with Andy on that. He actually handled the entire situation very well. At the end when Matthew gave his little speech about wanting to inspire Ephram to play again, I started to understand him a bit more. And he's right, Ephram and Andy do have issues wth one another so Andy forcing him to play piano again really does seem like a bad way to go about it.

Ephram feelings for Amy are pretty darn obvious so I don’t blame Laynie for picking up on it.

The small little Ephram/Andy moment at the end was cute.

jediwands

Laynie was wise. She knew the score. Totally agree about the piano teacher.

Basically regarding the mystery... The flu is key to the entire investigation. The man never murdered the drifter who passed through Everwood in 1918; he accidentally ran over his wife's dog, buried it taking the advice of Hal Sr, then discovered other sets of bones. The bones were from people buried during the flu outbreak in Everwood 1918. So, nope, he didn't kill those people.