The 2011 Summer Re-Watch: Everwood "Is There a Doctor in the House?" & "A Thanksgiving Tale" Reviews

When we left Everwood, Ephram and Jacob conspired in the quiet of the morning to return to Manhattan together. Actually, Ephram told his grandfather what he wanted most, and Jacob told his grandson that he'd try to bring him home to Manhattan. Ephram's miserable in Everwood, and hasn't felt happiness since his mother passed his way. His sojourn into the wilderness of Colorado to bring the doe home brought temporary catharsis but, alas, temporary's the key word. The possible move for Ephram's built around the conflict with his father, but the distant-and-miserable teen makes his decision to leave after the unpleasant run-in with Amy at the party AND the grocery store. So, Andy's just a scapegoat; however, the story isn't about father-and-son as much as it is about son-in-law and father--Andy and Jacob

The Manhattan situation is bound to explode, especially in the confines of the Brown house. The town gathered in the house for an impromptu birthday party for Edna, planned by Delia and Ruth. Unfortunately, the first snow storm hit the town, dropping a few feet of snow, trapping everyone in the Brown household. Tensions have risen and blood's been boiling, all in silence. Before the party, Ruth tells Ephram the story of when Andy wanted to ask for Jacob's blessing. Both drank shot after shot, waiting for the other to succumb to the alcohol but neither did. Both men fell asleep. Andy never asked. Jacob never said yes. Ruth interpreted silence as approval. Of course, the kind woman's wrong; her stories rarely include any lessons or truths. If she knew either man then she'd understand that silence does not equal approval.

Andy and Jacob rarely interact until Andy receives a swift kick in the rear from Nina, who implores him to fight for what he wants and to speak from the heart about what he wants. I should add that Andy and Ephram had a public fight, in which Andy acknowledged the truth that Ephram would be happier in New York. The public spat didn't help Andy's cause.

Regardless, Andy's motivated from Nina's pep-talk, so he and Jacob converse outside. Both men are direct, honest, and unrelenting. Andy accuses Jacob of pushing Ephram into the decision; Jacob tells Andy that his son's "so depressed" he asked to leave. Jacob continues, accusing Andy of being half-a-person, comparing his character to a glass ("no substance. no soul"), insulting his parenting in the process. Jacob goes on, arguing that Ephram sees through Andy's facade because Julia's no longer around to cover for her husband. Andy stands up for himself, explains that his children are all he has left, that Jacob has NO idea how hard it's been since Julia died, and that no one will take Delia and Ephram from him. Jacob spits back, "you took my daughter, neglected her, and now she's gone and I won't be left with nothing." Delia interrupts the fight to tell her dad that Bright fell down (oh yeah Bright's dealing with an inflamed appendix throughout this).

The fight reveals a truth or two about the actual issue. Jacob's pissed off because Andy took his daughter, treated her badly for fifteen years, and moved his family from New York to Colorado. Jacob feels he deserves to take Ephram because he perceives Andy as a lousy person. So, yes, there's a measure of vengeance in the move. Andy sniffed it out because he knows Jacob while Ruth looked the other way because she's ignorant or passive. The issues between two men are, seemingly, too vast and complicated to resolve with only one act to spare in the episode. Somehow, resolution happens.

Bright Abbott's never been more of a plot device than in "Is There a Doctor in the House?" Bright feels ill on the day of the party then his appendix explodes several hours later. Harold acknowledges that appendix problems run in the family. The only plow driver is Irv, and he's at the party, so the doctors can't move Bright to a hospital. Instead, they move him to Andy's office. Jacob's a renowned liver surgeon whose removed plenty of appendixes in his career but his hands are shot. The tremors we saw earlier in the episode weren't from playing Gershwin on an empty stomach--he probably has Parkinson's disease. Andy operates and removes the appendix without any complications.

The emergency operation bonds Jacob and Andy (what would've happened without that convenient plot device?). Jacob admired Andy's ability to calm the situation and make everyone feel safe. The curmudgeon finally admits that Andy's a good man, that Everwood's changed him, and that he believes his son-in-law's doing good things in the town. Jacob offers that Andy would've turned into him if he remained in New York (Andy, for some unknown reason, responds, 'that wouldn't be such a bad thing'). The train station reminds Jacob of the time he, Ruth and Julia were caught overnight in a town he forgets. He remembers how his little Julia couldn't look away from the beautiful snow fall. Of course, Andy knows the story all too well--Julia's experiences in the town, and its affect on her, is why Andy moved to Everwood. She told him she'd be here, and he came to be with her spirit. The episode closes on the tableau of Jacob and Andy looking through the window as the snow falls.

Now, I don't buy the swift and peaceful resolution between the two men because their issues were too deep for one emergency surgery to resolve, but I understand the reason the writers needed to resolve the issues. Everwood is a family drama, after all. As for Ephram, he decided to stay in Everwood following reconciliation with Andy AND Amy. Andy, particularly, affected Ephram by admitting that Andy's first decent sleep following his wife's death happened after Ephram told him everything would be okay. For now, everything somehow is okay by the end of "Is There a Doctor in the House?"

Great episode, overall.

Some other thoughts:

--There's a small subplot about how Edna and Bright never get along. The development seems as thrown-in as the appendix stuff.

--Bright and Delia become friends in this episode. The two characters are great together whenever they share scenes. Delia brings him birthday cake in the hospital.

--Harold calms Bright during the operation by telling him the story of when he broke his arm. His sister, Linda, dared him to jump off a tree. Andy's curious to hear more about this Aunt Linda. Foreshadowing.

--Stephanie Niznik hasn't gotten much work thus far but episodes 10 and 11 are good Nina episodes. She has a great scene with Andy in her house in this one, and she comes through big time for Delia in "A Thanksgiving Tale," which you can read about below.

--Michael Green wrote the episode. Robert Duncan McNiell directed it. Ephram reads an issue of Green Lantern in the episode. I doubt Michael Green and Greg Berlanti knew they'd write the big screen adaptation of the Green Lantern, and I doubt they knew fans and critics would hate it.

--Now onto "A Thanksgiving Tale":

"A Thanksgiving Tale"

Everwood's first Thanksgiving episode, titled "A Thanksgiving Tale," focuses on the Browns and the Abbotts. I wrote about this episode during November of 2010. What follows is essentially what I wrote in November with some changes. It's the 11th episode of the season and was the last Everwood episode of 2002. It's mostly stand-alone with barely any mention of Colin. The writers used the episode to survey where the Browns and Abbotts are now, how far the families have come since we met them in the "Pilot."

Delia loves Thanksgiving and she's worried that Thanksgiving will be different because her mother died. The little girl doesn't want anything about the holiday to change. Andy only worsens Delia's fear when he calls the local diner to order Thanksgiving dinner because he figures neither of his children yearns for a Thanksgiving dinner cooked by Andy; however, Ephram realizes the importance of the Thanksgiving tradition to Delia and decides to keep the tradition alive by himself.

The Delia story is the most heartfelt of the episode because it's about it the first holiday without a parent and the way to cope with that. She masks the pain and sadness she continues to experience through her insistence that nothing change because it's all she has--the hope that she can will it to be as it always was but it won't be. Ephram morphs into Martha Stewart as he basically nails the entire meal by himself but Delia loses her temper and lashes out because Thanksgiving isn't the same. Andy gets angry but Nina wants to talk to Delia. Nina helps Delia cope with the sadness about her mother. Nina tells Delia that she can be sad but she can be happy too. After all, her mother would want her daughter to be happy. Delia hugs Nina and cries, letting it all out. The next day, Ephram and Delia create a new tradition which is, "what was the best thing that happened to you this year?" Delia says it is when she discovered that God actually exists while Andy tells Ephram that getting to know his son was the best thing that happened to him.

Dr. Abbott, meanwhile, transforms into George Bailey after learning he might have a possible malignant growth. Harold frets over how the town would remember him should he die, so he invites the entire town to Thanksgiving dinner and behaves in charitable fashion. You see, he had a nightmare that no one came to his funeral but his family and Andy. Dr. Abbott soon becomes annoyed with his own behavior and with the crowd of people inside of his house. He retreats into the backyard where his mother sits. Edna tells Harold that she loved how he always knew the exact person he was. Dr. Abbott thinks he is an unloved man and won't be missed when he dies, and then Edna steals a sentiment from a Lawrence Durrell novel (unintentional most likely considering English professors don't even know who Durrell is; Durrell was mentored by T.S. Eliot and published the fantastic Alexandria Quartet) by explaining that each person only gets a certain amount of love to give to others and Harold loves his family more than any person she's ever known. Dr. Abbott then receives a call from the doctor telling him that he's fine. Abbott quickly kicks each person out of his house following the good news.

Ephram and Amy grew closer throughout the episode. She helped him with Thanksgiving preparation. They even kissed. The teenagers would've continued kissing if Delia didn't interrupt. Of course, Amy freaks out and ignores Ephram afterwards. When Ephram drops off a thank-you gift, Harold lies for his daughter and tells the boy that she went to Denver. After he's gone, Harold reminds Amy that she cannot be true to two men, even if she feels love for both of them--Ephram has feelings too. Amy listens to the mix cd Ephram made her and thinks.

Everwood wore its themes on its sleeves. The case-of-the-week, with the recluse who went crazy after losing his wife to his brother, parallels Andy after he lost his wife. Andy relates to the recluse, explaining that people thought he went insane by moving his kids to Everwood. Andy thinks he went crazy for a short time because he had no idea how to continue living without his wife. The recluse asks Andy what changed him into the sane man. Andy responds that he needed to feed his children. The recluse decides to part ways with his kidney that will save his brother's life because his brother needs it, and the recluse needs to move on and forgive his brother for the sake of his own sanity.

"A Thanksgiving Tale" is a simple, heartfelt episode about the importance of love, family, togetherness and community. Irv ruminates on this idea of an old, forgotten kingdom with charmed creatures, two kings who learned to co-exist, wizards who could tame wild spirits, a handsome prince and beautiful princess who could not know their paths were fated to cross. Irv calls this kingdom home. The narration summarizes the series thus far, to comment on how different people came together to form relationships, friendships, and a community, and a collective home in this small town in Colorado. It's a beautiful sentiment that caps off a heartwarming and heartfelt 42+ minutes of TV.

Some other thoughts:

--This episode is a battle between awesome beards. Treat Williams probably loses the beard fight to the actor who portrayed the recluse.

--Dr. Abbott's my favorite character in the show. I've used his lines in daily conversation. He utters one of my all-time favorites during the dream sequence, after Andy explains no one came to the funeral because of the cold--"Cold? It's positively balmy!"

--Vanessa Taylor wrote the episode. David Petrarca directed.

UP NEXT: "Vegetative State"--Amy prepares for Colin Hart's homecoming. Unfortunately, Ephram's the odd man out; however, Colin's not the same person he used to be. The two doctors join in the town debate over medical marijuana after a large quantity's discovered in a deceased woman's home. Also, Andy helps Nina when Sam's school wants him on Ritalin. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SLU28Y

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