“Connect Four” always stood out in my mind as the first
great episode of Everwood’s final season, but it’s really the only episode that
sticks out in my mind from the season, besides the final trio of episodes.
Everwood’s fourth season isn’t bad. It’s better than season three and probably
better than the second season. The Josh Reims penned “Pieces of Me” is a great
episode full of little moments and strong stories throughout. Now I remember
that Josh Reims was the Drew Goddard of Everwood’s fourth season.
This episode put the button on Rose’s mayoral career and her
cancer. The town voted for a new mayor. Harold felt rankled by it because of
the devotion his wife gave to them for nearly twenty years. Harold was quick to
see the worst in Everwood’s citizens since his introduction in the “Pilot”, and
they didn’t disappoint him by voting for a healthier, safer choice. At the
beginning of the episode, Rose faced a scary, uncertain future. By the end, she
faces an uncertain future, but she’s free from cancer. It’s not as scary.
There’s a great moment when Harold asks his mother to campaign for Rose. Edna
thought her son wanted to forget what faced him. He lashed out that he could
never forget his wife’s cancer because he lived with it and cursed himself for
not diagnosing it sooner. Wonderful stuff from Tom Amandes.
“Pieces of Me” introduced future bodybuilder Steven R.
McQueen as an annoying teenaged piano prodigy named Kyle. Kyle is Ephram from
season one, but worse and brattier. Ephram faced the piano for the first time
since he sold it to fund his getaway trip to Europe. Playing it for the first
time caused him to freak out on his young student, which prompted Amy, during
their conversation at Sam’s about the freak out, to ask why Ephram lets the
piano represent the nightmare situation with Madison, his kid, and his father. I
didn’t understand why either. Piano had nothing to do with Andy paying off
Madison to keep the pregnancy secret. Amy reminded Ephram that he loved piano
before the drama, and that he still can love it. So, he returns to being Kyle’s
teacher. The storyline’s greater purpose is to heal the central father/son
relationship by giving Ephram the darling gift of perspective. His piano
related trauma is but plot device.
The thematic tissue of the episode is memory. Who are we
without the one thing that’s fundamental to our identities? Andy treated a man
who didn’t want brain surgery for fear he’d lose his memory of surviving the
Holocaust. Ephram feels sick around the piano, but he can’t live his life
without it. There’s also the Rose storyline, plus a small Jake/Nina story
that’s part of the tissue (Jake feels he only a piece in the Feeny home,
without a defined place, but it leads to a comical end in which the two freak
out upon realizing Hannah’s a teenager, though I remember that comical aside
being that and nothing more).
The structure of “Pieces of Me” is great. Small asides
inform one and even two of the major storylines in the episode. Delia had one
scene about her Bat Mitzvah. She told Andy she wanted it. Andy sort of tried
and failed to find a rabbi. The case of the week couple have 3 scenes total
with him but those scenes help Andy realize why Delia needs her Bat Mitzvah. There’s
smart writing economy throughout “Pieces of Me.” Fine episode.
Josh Reims wrote the episode. Michael Pavone directed.
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