The Kyle arc was a way for Ephram to make peace with his
past. Kyle shared the same father issues, the same piano gift, and the same
genius-loner personality trait as his teacher, but he let Ephram experience a
modicum of what life would be like with as a father. He helped Kyle come to peace
with his identity. Ephram helped pay for Kyle’s college application fees. And
he tried to help Kyle avoid the mistakes he made a few years earlier. Kyle was
a simulacrum of every aspect of Ephram’s life. Ephram learned and forgave
because of the experience. At the end of their arc, he learned he taught piano
well enough to land Kyle an audition at Julliard. He made peace with his past,
but what about his future?
Ephram’s story in “The Land of Confusion” is one of my
favorites in the season and the series because he chose a life where he could
have it all—piano, family, a lover, children in whose lives he’d make a difference,
and children of his own. It marks the culmination of season four’s Ephram
redemption story. The writers needed to bring him back from his miserable
character assassination in late season three. The show’s full of characters
that think a choice is singular, an either/or. The either/or obsessed Ephram in
season three. If he couldn’t make time for Amy, he’d lose her, but he’d lose
Julliard if he couldn’t make time for piano. Ephram made the first adult choice
of any young character in the series. One’s life is what one wants it to be. The writers tied up the loose Madison thread
without her making an appearance by having Ephram calling her to apologize for
his behavior in the café when she told him about their son. Wonderful. Thank
goodness The CW cancelled the show.
Jake runs parallel to Ephram but Jake’s story returns to
that dreadful therapy session he had with Andy in “Free Fall”. Ephram made a
choice Jake seems incapable of choosing for himself: a healthy work-life
balance. Nina made him aware that he cut his hours at the office but made up it
by starting a clinic and acting as sponsor for every addict in Everwood. Jake
told Andy in the therapy session that he didn’t like what Andy represented,
which was a curious admission in a story predicated by Andy kissing his girl;
however, in this episode, it crystallizes, especially because of the echoes and
flashes of Andy’s neurosurgeon life in Manhattan. Andy represented Jake at his
most flawed. Jake saw his reflection in Andy, but he’s not close to achieving
the peace Andy found in Everwood.
I basically have ignored the Hannah/Bright story aside from
a sentence or three. They’re in the motions of TV coupledom, so they’re dull.
Hannah’s too passive, and Bright’s too horny, but they suck at communication.
Bright cheated on Hannah with Ada, the girl last seen making a fake ID for
Ephram in season two. Of course, he feels remorse after it’s done, and, of
course, Hannah’s full of apologies and understanding after their brief fight
about communication, so she praises honesty and thinks they’ll be super
together as long as they’re always honest. Bright couldn’t be honest with her
if the annoying kid from Liar, Liar wished it for his birthday. They start
their ‘new’ post-fight phase dishonestly. This relationship was a drag. (Fun
fact: Chris Pratt sliced his tendon cutting frozen steaks before the episode
and the writers wrote in the ‘broken hand by bad karate chop’ detail to explain
the sling).
The viewer may’ve noticed the slight, subtle narrative shifts.
Andy remembered his feelings for Nina when she mentioned marrying and having a
baby with Jake. Her relationship with
Jake is uncertain though. Bright and Hannah, of course, are headed for crying,
resentment, and separation. Ephram figured out his professional/vocational
future, a choice motivated in part by his love for Amy, and Amy will leave her
annoying self-righteous phase soon. The doldrums of mid-season for a network
drama with 22 episodes to produce are ending. The narrative is about to refocus
on what’s most important for our favorite characters.
Tom Garrigus wrote the episode. Charlie Stratton directed.
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