Amy and Ephram are important together. Through 43 episodes, I've written about the two as a would-be couple, commented on the relationship as needed, but I never wrote about its importance to the story of Everwood. Joey and Dawson were important only because the writers needed them to be important. The cosmic importance of Joey/Dawson wasn't earned. Williamson made the two's importance to one another inherent in the show's premise, but they were never as earned as Amy and Ephram. "Your Future Awaits" begins and ends with Bright Abbott and his graduation. The C and D stories involving Andy/Donald and Harold/Insurance/In-Laws are well-executed. The B story is really what the title refers to. Ephram's future is with Amy as Amy's future with Ephram. The highs and lows will define them and who they'll be together. Their future awaits.
Amy tags along with Ephram to an audition for entrance into the Julliard summer program. Ephram nails the audition after Amy gives him a pep-talk capped with a sweet smile. Ephram skips out of the auditorium, feeling good because of the audition, and because the girl he's always liked likes him back. Amy and Ephram hit the town of Boulder, enjoy a local carnival, and then have a near-romantic moment in a pavilion. The moment blows up because Ephram is a moron. Greg Berlanti worked on Dawson's Creek for three seasons before, presumably, creating Everwood. Ephram has his one-and-only Dawson moment after Amy realizes he manipulated the moment. Ephram confesses he knew but that he didn't mean to hurt Amy; he just wanted Amy to tell him how she felt. Amy feels humiliated and like she's been played. Ephram screams at her for playing him throughout the last two years.
The scene is unnecessarily manipulated by the writers love for dramatics before the season finale. Fans wanted Amy and Ephram together so badly during the first two seasons, which is why the writers pushed their romantic union until the season finale, and why they need to deeply wound one another before it happens. The writers figured out the couple in seasons three and four. It is frustrating to watch the unnecessary melodrama because of the long held belief in Hollywood that happy couples produce boring storylines. Ephram didn't need to verbally assault Amy. The writers botched the opportunity for an excellent romantic beginning to their love story for the sake of nonsense melodrama.
The postscript to their story is a scene before Bright's graduation. Ephram thanks Amy for helping him overcome his nerves to nail the audition. Amy doesn't noticeably react to news of Ephram's summer in New York, but somewhere, you can hear a clock ticking down: the season finale is near.
Ephram isn't a Dawson-like character who's hell-bent on insulting a woman until she loves him. Amy's vulnerability is a product of her insecurity. The pavilion scene wasn't an instance of Ephram's bad behavior. Before the trip to Boulder happens, Ephram discusses the situation with Amy. The break-up with Madison is fresh in his mind. The experience of loving someone, and being loved, is still in his system. Amy's like a lighthouse in the sea; her light is seen for miles and miles from shore or ship. Even if the light is faint, Ephram sees it. So, when he tells Nina that he's not ready for a relationship because of the wounds from his time with Madison, that should be his answer to Amy. Ephram, though, adds, "But it's Amy." Amy wonders why they hurt each other so horribly and live to tell the tell. For Ephram, it's because she's Amy. And for Amy, it's because he's Ephram.
The other experience their own lows. Andy's suddenly questioned by the medical community that once put him on the cover of Time Magazine; Harold cannot find an insurance company to cover his practice; Bright feels his life is over because his friends are graduating and going to school, and he is not. The storylines of Andy and Harold seem a product of the season coming to an end more than anything else, while Bright just needs a pick-me-up. Bright's been downcast for a few episodes now. Bright's challenge is finding a reason to attend graduation, which he find after conversing with his dad about the insurance problems of the practice. Harold tries to sweep away the disappointments of insurance companies opting not to cover him. Andy believes in his ability to operate on someone's brain and kicks out any doctor who challenges his instincts. "Your Future Awaits" is another way of expressing the phrase, "better days are ahead."
Everwood is a series about perseverance, overcoming grief and hardships, love, and friendship. Bright finds comfort in the love of his friends and family. Harold and Andy both feel the love and support of their friends and family, which helps them push forward despite the odds. Andy's story outshines the Abbott boys. Season 2 dealt with the affects of the Colin Hart surgery in the premiere and moved along. I thought the decision to show the medical fallout of the surgery was worthwhile, mostly because the writing usually never fails Andy (until a 10 episode arc in season 3 with Anne Heche). There isn't doubt about Andy successfully performing surgery on Donald. The focus is on Andy's evolution as a neurosurgeon.
Ephram remembers his father's neurosurgery days negatively. Andy worked long hours and missed every important moment of his children's lives. The death of his wife woke him up and it also changed him. Andy began treating Everwood citizens for free. Most importantly, he considered patients. Donald wanted Andy away from his surgery because he wouldn't consider performing it on a random stranger. Andy was the doctor who came in, vomited verbiage on a patient and left so he wouldn't have to watch that patient fall apart. The first patient he had after his wife's death could've lived for a year or more two with brutal sessions of chemo. Andy suggested his patient travel to the place he loves the most on earth and pass there. Andy no longer cared for statistics that went towards the hospital's reputation; he fervently believed in one's quality of life. Andy the Powerful Neurosurgeon believed himself to be a messianic figure of medicine, capable of saving a life, literally saving as in preventing death; his hands made men and women immortal. Andy the Country Doctor and Single Father of Two corrects Nina when she beams that she saved Donald's life. No, Andy explains, I didn't save his life, just the quality of his life.
Andy's not even emphasizing the words. His lines are sort of thrown aside because he's bummed about losing Ephram to New York for two months. The whole scene depicts the reformed Andy Brown and the essence of Everwood. I emphasized the importance of Amy/Ephram in "Your Future Awaits," but it's Andy who took the lowest point of his life and let it re-make him and re-form him. Andy's the character that guarantees every other character will be okay.
Other Thoughts:
-Betty White made her last appearance in the show. She was delightful.
-Wendy Mericle & Patrick Sean Smith wrote the episode. Marita Grabiak directed it.
UP NEXT: "The Day is Done"--Harold decides to open a bagel shop; Ephram's going to New York, but Amy asks him to stay; Madison visits Andy to tell him something. Watch the episode on Amazon.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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