HART OF DIXIE Recap: If It Makes You Happy

Zoe is in bed but wait Wade isn’t with her. Well he is in the room, painting, with no shirt. They have a verbal spat which basically boils down to they aren’t having sex anymore.
When Zoe runs into Lavon in his kitchen he confirms what they are fighting about but he doesn’t have time to dwell on their problems, he has his own problem, Ruby.
Of course he doesn’t get to talk about his problems because Zoe has another problem, the reporter from Alumni Magazine will be in Bluebell tomorrow. She was listed as retired in her last magazine so she is trying to set the record straight.

Brick and Lemon are having their own problems. Lemon is not okay with Ruby running for Mayor, Ruby being her high school nemesis and all. Brick on the other hand misses Emily. It’s a 10 hour drive to NC and that’s pretty darn far. I once tried to date a guy that lived 2 hours away and I found that to be a ridiculous distance, so I feel for Brick.
They are interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s George. Brick is all kinds of upset with George, but George isn’t there to see Brick, he is there to see Lemon. Lemon may be mad but she is at least cordial. And now for George’s “problem”, he has a date. He wanted to give her a heads up so she didn’t hear it from the rumor mill. What an extremely awkward conversation.

At The Rammer Jammer Zoe comes in and stands on a chair in heels that I’m not even sure I could walk in and I wear some crazy heels. She is pretty excited to tell all of them about, “The Doctor Zoe Hart Three Point Plan for Better Living.”
Step 1: Get the local restaurants to serve heart healthy menu items
Step 2: Sunrise Boot Camp in the town square
She doesn’t get to the third step before she starts actually insulting patrons. One of said patrons is the alumni reporter, he’s early. Zoe takes him by the office to show him where she works when Tom shows up with a rash on his arm. The reporter has seen enough and he leaves.

Lemon finds Annabeth at a pastry shop, another establishment I didn’t know Bluebell had. Lemon is upset because George is dating. Lemon can’t be defined as the loser in this breakup, she needs a date. Annabeth gets sucked into a night out on the town with Lemon.

At the town square Ruby is handing out blue cupcakes shaped as bells. Lavon is still annoyed with her for running and they have a little spat that she clearly wins. Something she acknowledges by the smug look on her face before she sashays away.

Lemon and Annabeth are shopping for new dresses for their night out. Annabeth says this is a really bad idea. What is a bad idea is whatever dress Lemon has on. I don’t know what the print is, cows, hats, pigs…but whatever it is her dress looks like a pair of pajamas my little sister owns.
Anyway, Lemon is planning the evening, how it will all play out even though she hasn’t even met anyone yet when another girl in the shop picks out a perfect little red strapless dress. She says it is for her date with George Tucker. Lemon’s mouth drops open.

Brick is in the office lamenting how far away Emily lives and how few direct flights there are between Bluebell and North Carolina when Zoe burst in and asks him hypothetically what would all of Tom’s symptoms be if he was diagnosing. He pauses and says, Leprosy. Tom is a little freaked out; especially when Zoe tells him it could be contagious. She finds out the only place he has been in the last few days is home and doing yard work for Crazy Earl, Wade’s Dad. She quarantines Tom and calls the reporter. She thinks she has a story for him now.

Zoe finds Wade still painting at her place, she tells him about Tom’s diagnosis and how it could have come from Crazy Earl. Wade thinks this is all about the reporter and her story. Zoe talks Wade into going with her to see his Dad though. Oh and if you were keeping track he had a shirt on in that scene.

George and his date are having dinner while Brick is conveniently at the same place having a drink at the bar. He is doing some more complaining about how far away North Carolina is. Poor Brick. Mid-sentence he sees George on his date and heads over to be introduced. Brick pulls up a chair and joins them at the table; he is determined to ruin George’s evening.

Annabeth and Lemon are out looking for the “right” guy. Lemon finds a guy at the bar that she thinks will work for her plan. She is about to send him a drink when Ruby beats her too it. I can see this deteriorating and fast.

Wade and Zoe check in on Crazy Earl. While there they find out Randy (the armadillo) has been bothering Earl. He has tried to keep him off his property. Zoe thinks that is the connection. Apparently, and this is something I just learned, 15% of armadillos are infected with leprosy. Wade is not as impressed as I am by that fact, and says he isn’t helping. Of course this leads to another spat which Earl joins in on. He keeps calling Zoe Wade’s girlfriend and says that Wade talks about her all the time. Wade is even more upset now, but he is going to help her catch the armadillo. Zoe looks very pleased with the whole situation.

Zoe and Wade are in the dark in the woods setting a trap for the armadillo. There is more verbal fighting about how annoying they each think they are. It is the most thinly veiled flirting ever. EVER. They do manage to catch the armadillo though.

Back at the bar Lemon is mad at Cricket for going out with Ruby. She is supposed to be Lemon’s friend. Cricket thinks Ruby might have changed. Lemon doesn’t think so. She interrupts Ruby’s conversation with a bunch of flirting and arm grabbing. Ruby and Lemon do some not so nice but in a nice voice sparing. When their guy leaves to take a phone call Ruby tells Lemon that her whole childhood she only tried out for and beat out Lemon for all of her accomplishes just to spite Lemon. That seems awfully mean and spiteful but I can’t say I blame her. Lemon isn’t my favorite character.
When the guy gets back Lemon wins the round by getting the guy to leave with her.

At dinner Brick brings up that George was engaged up until a few weeks ago to his daughter. Then Brick starts yelling, in fact they both start yelling at each other and are asked to leave.

Wade and Zoe get the armadillo back to the office where the reporter is waiting for them. Tom’s test results come in and he is cleared, no leprosy. Zoe is crushed when the reporter leaves. Wade picks at her a little more, saying she isn’t honest about what makes her happy, she is just miserable all the time. Wade’s speech actually comes together and he makes a good point, if you want to be happy change your picture or change your life.

Lemon has her guy outside flirting away when he leans in to kiss her. Half a kiss and she pulls away and freaks out. She isn’t ready yet, she gets up and leaves.
Meanwhile Brick and George are still fighting outside when Lavon comes by and breaks up what was about to be a fist fight. Brick insists it is a personal dispute, even though they are yelling in the middle of town in the street. Lavon says they are going to wake the Henderson’s baby. It occurs to me that this right here is why Lavon is Mayor. He says no one is going home until they work this out. This town is too small for them to continue to fight. George apologizes for breaking Lemon’s heart and hurting Brick. Brick has always been like a Dad to him. Brick thinks that may be why it hurts so much. When Lemon lost George, Brick lost him too, as a son. They shake hands and hug.

Tom has Zoe back in her office. Tom has been taking St. John’s Wart for anxiety. His anxiety stems from Wanda wanting to have sex. Tom is still a virgin and religious, he doesn’t know if he is ready. Zoe says the best thing to do is talk to Wanda. She quotes Wade, “The best thing to do is be honest with yourself about how you want to live your life.”

She is walking home when she comes across George. He tells her about the date disaster and they flirt a little before he says goodnight. He didn’t even offer to walk her home, isn’t this a small southern town?

Lavon is also walking home when he runs into Ruby. He tells her he is a problem solver and he loves solving the problems of Bluebell. Lavon tells her being a Mayor is being a mediator and he is good at it. He finally stands up to her and doesn’t let her win the conversation.

Lemon finds Annabeth to drink a glass of wine and talk about this whole crazy evening. Annabeth tries to talk some sense into her. She tells Lemon to be that independent person she was talking about being right after the wedding imploded. Annabeth even tells her she will help her fix up the houseboat that belonged to her ex-husband and Lemon can stay there so she doesn’t have to live at home anymore.
Lemon likes the idea; she takes it a little farther and knocks on Lavon’s door. She offers to run his campaign. She will not let Ruby win this election. Lavon seems impressed.

Wade is playing video games at his place when there is a knock on his door, it’s Zoe. She has Halo and in a roundabout way says Wade was right earlier. Wade thinks strip Halo is an even better game. Zoe says he’s the expert.

Hart of Dixie airs Tuesday 8/7c on CW