The Battle of the Flower-Named Girls
Being a Breeland, it is very important for Magnolia to win this Bluebell pageant. Lemon and their mother both won their years. Lemon is doing all she can to make sure that works out for her sister. But when Zoe sees a very sad Rose, upset that her crush Frederick is dating Magnolia, Zoe decides the best way to cheer up her young BFF is to help her win the pageant and, in turn, Frederick’s heart.

As you may have noticed, Lemon and Zoe don’t like each other. Zoe finds Lemon ridiculous, and her crush on George doesn’t help. Lemon doesn’t like how Zoe doesn’t fit in, and you know, George’s apparent crush on Zoe. So they go full tilt with poor Magnolia and Rose. Magnolia needs tears during her Gone With the Wind monologue for the talent show! Rose has to sing, not clog like she wants to! When Zoe advises Suzy at the salon to stay home (she has bronchitis!) meaning the girls hair can’t properly be done up, Lemon loses it and the two fight it out in the street. The fight, of course, comes down to George. Lemon says Zoe is a shameless flirt who will just end up a spinster. Zoe says George flirts with her too because he sees something in Zoe he doesn’t see in Lemon. Ooooo. Harsh. But the two stop when they realize Magnolia and Rose left them in the street.

They go back and apologize to their young pageant girls, and let them perform however they like. And guess what – neither of them win! I love the shoulder shrug they give each other. I just want everyone to be friends, is that so wrong?!? Zoe also learns she needs to maybe back off with George because ultimately, she is the one that is going to get hurt. So she tells George she can’t help him with a medical malpractice suit he asked her about. As for everyone else’s realization when it comes to their relationships… well we will get to that in a second.

The Story of Lemon and Lavon
Since week one I have mentioned I want to know what led these two to get together in the first place, so when we started having flashbacks this episode, I bet you all knew how excited I was! Pageant time brings up some unfortunate memories for Lemon. First – she remembers winning her pageant and how excited she was with her mother (Meredith Monroe, who depresses me by playing mom to Jamie King). Mom gave her a necklace and told her she needs to reach for her dreams and not be like her. As we know, not long after mom decided to leave and do just that, and never looked back.

Well, a year ago, when George was in NYC during Christmas, she saw an ad for a production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House thirty miles away, starring her mother. Lemon tried calling George, but he was busy. Brand new mayor, Lavon, saw her crying by the pond and she told him what was going on. She threw the necklace mom gave her into the pond and he tried to comfort her. Then later he shows up at her house, necklace in hand saying she can’t forget her mom, that won’t do any good. If he had gone searching through a pond for my necklace, I would have made out with him too. So that’s the story of how they got together. I get it now. It was sweet.

In the here and now, Lavon is the only one that knows what the pageant really stirs up for Lemon. He tells her that it is Mom’s loss if she is so close but never choses to get to know Lemon. This inspires Lemon to drive out to where her mom lives. What she sees there is beyond heartbreaking – she isn’t some big fancy actress living out her actress dreams. She’s a wife and mom to another girl. UGH. It was awful. Poor Lemon goes to try to talk to Lavon about it, but he turns her away, after hearing George profess his love for Lemon (again, we’ll get there!). So she goes to George, feeling unfulfilled. Bravo to Jamie King in this episode. A lot of emotional stuff!

Wade and George’s Christmas Adventure
Lemon put Wade in charge of getting the big Christmas tree for the town square. A HUGE deal, that George repeatedly tells Wade not to screw up. But, he does, and winds up with a Charlie Brown tree. Wade tells George it is no problem, he’s good buddies with a guy and he can go cut down a tree off his property.

And off they go to get (steal) a tree. During the trip they start to fight a bit. Wade’s a little annoyed with George after seeing George and Zoe flirt it up earlier. George basically calls Wade a man-whore. Wade gives George crap for always being with one girl. Things don’t get any better when they are arrested for cutting down the tree. Turns out the owner of the property hates Wade for dating his daughter.

The two get some quality time in a jail cell, waiting for Lavon to come bail them out. The fighting continues as Wade points out that George, for someone who is so committed to Lemon, sure spends a lot of time with Zoe. Including being at her house at midnight the day of the crossbow incident. Wade says that George is leading her on and Zoe won’t date anyone else because of it. In other words: “Leave her alone so she’ll date me!” George says he is in love with Lemon, going to marry Lemon and be with her forever. Lavon overhears this as he goes to get them out of jail, and that is why he turned her away. Someone get Lavon a girl, stat! He is too sweet to be lonely.

After George and Zoe essentially break up, Wade and Zoe see each other in the town square. He asks her about Rose which leads to this exchange:

Zoe: She was amazing.
Wade: You showed her how to be.

I. Die. Seriously – I swooned audibly. I embarrass myself. Wade asks to buy her a drink at the Rammer Jammer, but she says she is tired and asks for a raincheck. In a way that seems like she really means it. They smile and give each other googly eyes and I yell at the TV: KISS ALREADY!!! Sigh…..

But it’s a long wait before we get to see that happen. Like, 6 weeks. Booooo. To make it better – the previews for when Hart of Dixie returns shows that we have some shirtless Wade and Lavon to look forward to. What more can we ask for? Oh that’s right, Zoe and Wade making out..

Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @serrae

Hart of Dixie Review “Hairdos and Holidays”

What I liked about Hart of Dixie “Hairdos and Holidays”

• I love Meredith Monroe, so it was great to see her in this episode… however (see below for more on this.)
• George having Wade arrange for the Christmas tree was sweet, I like their friendship. But, predictably, Wade messed up the job.
• Lemon gave a very Cordelia Chase (Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Charisma Carpenter) speech when she talked to Zoe about the spinster tradition.
• Wade corrected George, “No, she was a stripper.”

More.

• Zoe and Lemon both got on their phones all the time like they were waging a war via Rose and Magnolia.
• Also loved Lemon’s flashback where we saw her complaining about racoons breaking not the nativity scene. There was too much Lemon love
• Rachel Bilson was funny when she was having Zoe explain to Rose about the importance of a new hairstyle – “You just need something that screams ‘hair! Hair!’”

Click to enlarge.

What I disliked about Hart of Dixie “Hairdos and Holidays”.

• Leave it to me to care a lot about set decoration, but I really hate the Breeland’s sunroom where Lemon and George are always talking.
• This was a Christmas kind of episode, so I’d expect it’d be a pageant about Egg Nog, not the autumnal Cider. I suppose “Miss Nog” just sounds bad.
• That headband that Lemon wore with the bows was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. I could hardly even tell what they were. It was so awkward-looking, like a bad Etsy design.
• Why does everyone have to say someone’s first and last name? I’m so tired of hearing people say “Zoe Hart” as though there’s so many Zoe’s in Bluebell that they might mix them up. Geez.
• Why is Meredith Monroe brunette again? And why did they cast her as Jaime King‘s mom? Aren’t they basically the same age!? Lord.
• Neither Rose nor Magnolia won. Based on what we know about Magnolia, I find it hard to believe that Magnolia was totally fine (as we saw she was) about not winning. I understand it was super important to Lemon, but Magnolia still wanted to win. And if my Mother and Older sister had both won something like that, I’d really feel the pressure if I didn’t win, too.

Hart of Dixie Episode Guide
Hart of Dixie “Hairdos & Holidays” Summary

CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL — Zoe (Rachel Bilson) encourages Rose (guest star McKaley Miller) to enter the annual Miss Cinnamon Cider Pageant even though Lemon’s (Jaime King) younger sister, Magnolia Breeland (guest star Claudia Lee), is a shoo-in to win.

Of course, with Zoe coaching Rose and Lemon coaching Magnolia, rivalry takes on a whole new meaning.

Meanwhile, George (Scott Porter) and Wade (Wilson Bethel) go on a road trip to pick up a Christmas tree for Bluebell’s town square.

Also, in flashbacks, we learn some of the history of Lemon’s relationship with her mother, as well as the details of when Lemon and Lavon (Cress Williams) first realized they had a connection. David Paymer directed the episode written by David Babcock

Hart of Dixie Season 1 Episode 10

Claudia Lee as Magnolia Breeland, Lemon’s sister.

Rachel Bilson as Dr. Zoe Hart.

You guys know that Small Screen Scoop is Team Wade, right? Wade and Zoe are perfect together.

Here’s the man himself, Wilson Bethel as Wade. As I never seem to like blond guys, it really was his snarky personality that made me like him so much more than George.

Looks like we get more Zoe/Rose scenes! This is McKaley Miller as Rose.

And sadly there’s more formal shorts on Zoe. Ugh. These look similar to a pair of beige ones in the latest Madewell catalog that Alexa Chung put in her “favorites.”

Rachel Bilson has good hair here. Oh, what a Merry Christmas!

Hart of Dixie airs Mondays on The CW

Photo Credit: Scott Alan Humbert/The CW©2011 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved