"Extra Ordinary" is the second episode of the second season. One should recall how I concluded last summer's re-watch with "The Last of Summer" because it concluded the season one arc more so than it launched the second season. "Extra Ordinary" is a traditional premiere episode even though it is episode two of the season. The focus shifts. Characters return to their daily lives. Personal and story arcs are established.
Junior year of high school is supposed to be the most difficult because it's the most important year for college recruitment and application. The episode begins in the County High gymnasium where colleges from across the country have assembled. Andy and Ephram wander around clueless, lost amidst the seas of college colors and parents and teenagers. Meanwhile, Dr. Abbott and Amy move around with an agenda. Harold's hands are full of booklets, brochures, and a binder. He freely imparts advice to his competitor about how to prepare for the year ahead when SATs and grades need to be exceptional for one's child to be accepted into his or her university of choice. Andy, of course, is clueless and overreacts to him and Ephram's lack of preparedness. The teens let their fathers wander around the gym alone. On the bleachers, Ephram tries to assure himself that his dad won't become a pod parent. Amy feels Andy's transformation into a pod parent is inevitable. Surely enough, Andy excitedly tosses a Duke Frisbee to Ephram. Transformation complete.
Themes of one's academic future, and general well-being in the future, dominate the episode. Andy is genuinely worried about Ephram's future because of the lack of their lack of preparation. Harold outlined Amy's entire future for her: a wonderfully enriching and fulfilling experience at Princeton University. Bright, meanwhile, has been packaged as a sports-athlete, but a failed math class completely disrupts the course of his future. Irv's narration in the beginning told us about a parent's belief in their child as being extraordinary. Harold believes in the extraordinary abilities and potential of his children whereas Andy just wants to ensure Ephram a life he's content and happy with but within means; or in other words, Andy doesn't intend on being a hurdle in Ephram's life, but he wants to ensure Ephram a quality and secure life. Andy's intentions stem from his own experiences with his father who didn't support his medical aspirations. Andy wants to support anything Ephram wants him to do.
There are various clashes between a parent and child in this episode. Andy reacts poorly to Ephram's plans of earning a B.F.A somewhere. Amy blows off of a meeting with a representative from Princeton. Bright is thrown off the football team. Irv spoke about the extraordinary expectations one has for his or child, but the only extraordinary thing are these extraordinary expectations. Harold and Rose, and Andy, want the world for their kids; it's crushing for the Abbots when they realize why Amy blew off the meeting and why Bright couldn't remain on the football team. The life they want for Amy disappeared when Colin died. Amy is a sad girl; she lays in bed watching television. Following a blowup at the dinner table, in which Amy flatly responds to her parents' questions, Harold tells Rose that he can't attack Amy for blowing off the meeting because she's grieving not only for Colin but for the life she felt she'd have with him. The more troubling aspect of the dinner table blowup, which Harold doesn't notice or chooses to ignore, is the blankness and flatness of Amy. She has no emotion. Rose sees this, tries to talk with her daughter, and then celebrates a small victory when Amy agrees to talk with someone. Grief isn't something one just gets over; it's a process, and one she'll go through during this season. Recall Ephram's monologue about how he adapted to life without his mother: Amy needs to learn those same truths.
Harold treats Bright differently. Bright's bad news is met with anger and disappointment. Harold ranted about the package of Bright as a student-athlete. Bright insisted he could do the work and find a college that'd accept him. Harold isn't so optimistic. When he hears how Bright can use Colin's death to return to the football team, he tells him to use it. Bright would never play the Colin card though. It's disrespectful and exploitive. Bright is committed to earning everything himself. Harold, in a fit anger, claims his son isn't smart enough to get into college without football. Suddenly, their issues are less about college than they are of a massive misunderstanding with one another, which is crystallized in their final scene. Harold never concerned himself with Bright's school work and Bright carried on without dwelling on it, but now they're at a strange place where neither can relate to the other. They reconcile but their relationship will be strained. Harold can't honestly tell Bright he'll get into college. Bright accepts this and rejects his father's tutoring help--Bright wants to earn everything on his own. An underlying theme between the Abbott parents and their children is this sense of displacement, which means Amy and Bright changed and the parents don't know how to be around them. Amy needs to find peace after Colin; Bright needs to re-prioritize; Harold and Rose need to reassess their roles as parents, adapt to the coming storm, and trust in eachother as well as their children. Rose disliked how Harold under minded her during dinner because a united front is the most important aspect of their nuclear family. Season 1 depicted an ideal, or perfect, family in the Abbotts. Season 2 will depict a different side of the family.
The only extra ordinary people in Everwood are the Brown males. Genius doesn't automatically grant someone fortune and fame though. One must work at it. James Joyce didn't write Ulysses the first time he put pen to paper nor did Dostoevsky come out of the gates with The Brothers Karamazov. Ephram played for a Julliard representative in hopes of putting himself on the fast track to professional pianist stardom. Lack of communication between Ephram and Andy led to conflict. Ephram's confident and cocky as any sixteen year old, especially considering the Julliard rep approached him. Andy isn't trying to dash Ephram's hopes and dreams--he just wants Ephram to consider all the possibilities, but Ephram feels like his father lacks faith in him. Ephram doesn't receive a positive evaluation. The rep details each of Ephram's flaws. Ephram is deflated and dejected. He enrolls in an SAT course, content to follow the path of his normal peers. Andy experiences a moment of clarity after a conversation with Harold, goes to Ephram's class, takes him out, and delivers an inspiring speech about Franz Liszt and working hard to be extraordinary. The piano was a symbol of Ephram's loss in season one; he couldn't look at it without feeling nausea; but the piano is a much different symbol this season and beyond. This gift of playing, which Andy doesn't understand fully, could take Ephram around the world. Andy says medicine took him around the world and he'd never let Ephram waste his gift, no matter what some blowhard from Julliard says. On Saturday morning, Ephram practices. Delia watches her older brother and says, "I'm glad I'm not a genius." Genius is about much more than a title.
Andy carries around the 'You killed Colin Hart' stigma in Everwood. Andy handles his patient-of-the-week like an ordinary doctor would. He doesn't rock any boats and sends her for a second opinion when she questions his ability to help her after what happened to Colin. Harold provides the pep talk Andy needs. Essentially, Harold urges Andy not to act the part of an ordinary doctor because he is anything but. Andy made his mark in their small town by being meddlesome and unrelenting when he feels passionate in his diagnosis of a patient. The patient is a 17 year old girl with problematic implants. No 17 year old should have implants. Andy finally returns to himself when he tells the patient and her mother everything he thinks without abandon. Andy needed to overcome self-doubt and the town's doubt.
"Extra Ordinary" is a good episode and a nice return to Everwood form after the emotional intensity of the season premiere. I'm looking forward to writing about the rest of the season over the next four months.
Other Thoughts:
-Kristen Bell portrays the 17 year old breast implant patient. The following TV season she portrayed Veronica Mars. Now, she's a successful movie and TV actress.
-One of Andy's greatest lines is spoken in this episode. Ephram freaks out at him before dinner and says, "I'm sure you love this." Andy says, "I was making soup!" Treat Williams had impeccable comedic timing.
-Michael Green wrote "Extra Ordinary." David Petrarca directed it.
-My plan is to write about "My Brother's Keeper" next week and then resume the Everwood re-watch after the conclusion of TVD's third season.
UP NEXT: "My Brother's Keeper"--Linda Abbott comes home; Bright and Ephram begin their friendship; Andy deals with thirteen year olds who partake in a sex club. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030FA5ZM
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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