Hart of Dixie 1x06: The Undead and the Unsaid

Original Air Date: 7 November 2011

Storyline: Driving home late one night from a house call, Zoe accidentally hits a man but can't find any signs of him when she gets out of her car. Later, she sees the man's photo hanging at the Rammer Jammer and George tells her that the man in the picture died over a year ago. Meanwhile, Lemon and George are ready to buy their dream home until Lavon steps in and refuses to authorize the purchase because it is one of Bluebell's historic properties. Zoe's mom shows up in Bluebell hoping to reconcile with her daughter after keeping the identity of Zoe's real father a secret Zoe's entire life.Best Quote:

Zoe: Since we're both up, you want to hang out? Have some tea or something?
Wade: Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I'll... I'll have some "tea."
Zoe: Oh, no! Whoa, no. No, no. Never mind. Bad idea. I'm sleepy. Exhausted. Go away.
Wade: You are a certified crazy person, you know that? Now, historically I've found that hot, but in your case, I think I'm cured.

Review: After an inflation of Halloween themed episodes, I thought this would be another one just like that, especially when you add the title. Fortunately, the title and some ghost jokes from Wade were the closest thing to the night of the dead we got. 

"The Undead and the Unsaid" is about ghosts though - the ghosts of the past. As Zoe meets, in a very unexpected way, a man who is supposed to be dead, his situation leads to a confrontation with her own mother, who has been trying to get in touch with her ever since Zoe drove her out of Bluebell in a fit of rage over the identity of her biological father. I've never been a fan of TV procedurals making parallels between the weekly case and the hero's personal life (and, in its core, Hart of Dixie is a procedural), since it always feels forced, and this episode is not an exception. Leon Mercy's situation, as interesting as it might have been, was completely unrealistic; I mean, does anyone really fake their death anymore these days, unless the Camorra is after them or they're Osama? And if they do fake their death, do they actually live in the same town they were living when they were actually... alive?
OK, moving on... there is one good thing Leon Mercy did this week, and it wasn't Zoe forgiving her mother. That was going to happen sooner or later so it didn't really touch me one way or another. What it did is give us more Zoe/Wade moments and they were all in the sexy-hilarious zone, all so good and fun to watch that I can't even pick my favorite. Between asking him to stay for some tea, a very confused Wade being woken up in the middle of the night not for sex, Wade meeting Zoe's mother for the first time or him rescuing her in the woods, everything was top notch, with well written and perfectly delivered dialog. I can't figure out how Zoe hasn't jumped Wade yet; if he were coming to my house in the middle of the night half way naked and offered to stay for some "tea", I wouldn't even dream of saying no. Just my two cents.
The secondary plot, the one involving Lemon's relationship with her sister, gave us some more insight into the Breeland family dynamics. It's definitely an improvement from the two-dimensional character Lemon has been for the first five episodes. (But, with another daughter called Magnolia, why did Brick name his eldest Lemon? Headscratcher.) We definitely need to see more of her other than her jealous shallow self; after all, Jamie King - despite her horrific Southern accent - is a pretty good actress and than needs to be shown in other  than just hissy fits scenes. I'm afraid though that this arc will get lost on the way and be considered resolved with George's intervention and Lemon will go back to being happy that Marvella Pinkney died or whatever 17th century dance she is rehearsing for on a weekly basis, but at least we get to see that Brick is not the big bad wolf all the time.
Other stuff: George tried to bend the rules and get his friend Lavon go behind normal procedures and help him buy the Pinkney house. Other than Lavon being a total douche in his pining for Lemon, I was on his team with this: he's the mayor and has to do things by the book, otherwise it's called fraud. Zoe, Wade and Lavon make the perfect friends/neighbors group and every interaction between any of the three always makes for very entertaining television. I just loved how Wade came in talking about women's volleyball just when Lavon was trying to convince Zoe he can't drive her because he has "important mayoral business to conduct" and "this ain't 'Driving Miss Zoe.'" I also like the relationship between Zoe and Rose and the fact that she actually saved a Breeland's life. 
So I would say this was another good episode - this show is definitely becoming one of my favorites and I can't get enough of Wade's abs, his sarcastic comments and his hidden sweetness when it comes to helping his New Yorker neighbor.Hart of Dixie 1x05: Faith and Infidelity Back to Season 1